If You Liked ‘Stand Your Ground,’ You’ll Love the Jeffersonian Project

[hue]

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/04/if-you-liked-stand-your-ground-youll-love-the-jeffersonian-project/?hp&_r=0

The Guardian, a British newspaper, has made American headlines recently for publishing revealing documents about the National Security Agency. On Tuesday it ventured straight into domestic political territory with an eye-opening set of leaked documents about a conservative advocacy organization with a well-financed presence in this country’s state capitals.

The group is called the American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as ALEC, and it has been at the heart of the widespread state effort to curb voting rights and unions, cut taxes, and demolish what little is left of gun control. Accepting money from some of the country’s largest corporations, as well as conservative billionaires such as the Koch brothers, it writes “model legislation” that is introduced by its member lawmakers in dozens of state capitals, and often enacted word for word.

The organization got into trouble last year due to its role in disseminating “stand your ground” self-defense laws, which played a part in the botched investigation of the Trayvon Martin killing. After the law was passed in Florida in 2005, ALEC pushed for its passage across the country, which eventually led 24 other states to adopt similar laws. To avoid bad press, prominent corporations began abandoning ALEC, pulling their financial support.

The Guardian reports that the issue cost the group a third of its income, along with more than 60 corporate members and almost 400 state legislators. But ALEC is making an effort to win back its money, and one of the ways it plans to do so is to set up a separate organization that is allowed to lobby while collecting anonymous contributions.

[Historic NY]

1. Its time to cut their heads off in the courts and press.............

they're nothing more than snakes in the grass.

[hue]

2. This describes the 1%s next steps in retaining control/influence of our legislation & government.