It is encouraging that ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) is being forced out of the closet. Much of their power has been from their ability to operate anonymously. Another hopeful sign is that a number of well-known corporations are withdrawing their membership and support from ALEC: they do not like the negative publicity.
Alecexposed.org is a helpful website to appreciate the full width and depth of ALEC’s activities and effects. Like Wikipedia, it has limitations and you have to use it with discretion. ALEC is a moving target. What’s reported on Alecexposed is subject to change - perhaps even to manipulation - and is only as good as its sources and the integrity of its editors. That’s the usual caveat for any reference.
ALEC has by no means run out of steam. It remains an extraordinary threat to civil society and to a strong middle class. ALEC needs to remain under the microscope.
Alecexposed has lists, kind of a Who’s Who. This post is about ALEC’s connections in the Oregon legislature. The Alecexposed site also lists legislators who have cut ties with ALEC. Regrettably, no Oregon legislators who are tied to ALEC have made that decision yet.
Representative Gene Whisnant of Sun River is currently listed on the ALEC website as State Chair for Oregon. He was ALEC State Legislator of the year in 2011. Here is what ouroregon.org reports about Gene Whisnant:
Rep. Gene Whisnant is not just any ALEC member, but the ALEC Oregon State Chairman. This isn’t an arbitrary honorific; along with the title comes great responsibility. The ALEC charter mandates that state chairmen must “work to ensure introduction of model legislation” (ALEC bylaws, Article X). A chairman must introduce ALEC bills into his state capitol, providing a direct conduit for big corporate interests into Oregon state policy.
“As a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), we vote on model legislation in the committees. I have started to draft two of ALEC’s model legislation and plan on introducing them next session. One is a Privatization Initiative panel that would create a panel to consider Oregon government’s priorities and determine which activities are best provided by the government and what services could be provided by the private sector. The other ALEC model is to create a council on efficient government.”
Rep. Whisnant’s eagerness to introduce ALEC-sponsored bills that promote privatization of government not only fulfilled his duties as Chairman (see those bylaws) but may have even been encouraged by the notion that such corporate favoritism might please some those generous corporate ALEC funders. Common Cause Oregon examined ALEC corporate members and their contributions to Oregon campaigns and discovered that, between 2001 - 2010, ALEC sponsors have dumped more than $16 million into the state, most of which went to conservative ballot measure campaigns and Republican candidates, Leadership, and Party PACS.
And mid-way through the session, in April 2011, Rep. Whisnant penned an article for Inside ALEC magazine, in which he noted that “The Oregon 76th Legislative Session is… the first session with the House equally divided 30-30. As a result, this may be the session to pass model legislation from ALEC’s State Budget Reform Toolkit.”
With such bold moves, it is unsurprising that Rep. Whisnant earned ALEC’s high honor of 2011 ALEC State Legislator of the Year. But Whisnant did not stop after his award. In the February 2012 session, Whisnant attempted to block consumer protection efforts to push big bank-friendly amendments onto foreclosure protection bills.
The same OurOregon report provides some biographical information on other Oregon legislators. It also provides the following disclaimer:
There are many more Oregon politicians whom the award-winning website, ALEC Exposed, has listed as members based on ALEC’s own documentation. There’s only one problem: ever since ALEC has been in the news, information about the legislators’ connections to ALEC has begun to disappear from ALEC’s archives.
Whisnant’s association with ALEC is clearly old news by now. A February 2012 article in The Oregonian highlights the criticism he attracted when he was named ALEC State Legislator of the Year. Additional biographical information includes that he is a member of the Homeless Leadership Council, an officer of the PTA, and a youth sports coach. He has been a member of the NRA, the VFW and the La Pine Grange. He has military and diplomatic experience including Air Attache for the US Embassy in Belgrade. He was Vice President of the Sunriver Homeowners Association. He is a member of the Sunriver Christian Fellowship Church.
Here is the list of Oregon Legislators with ALEC Ties from the ALECexposed website:
House of Representatives
- Rep. Kevin Cameron (R-Salem)[1]
- Rep. Sal Esquivel (R-6),[3][1] Co-chair of the Agriculture Subcommittee of ALEC's Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force along with CropLife America's Jeff Case[4]
- Rep. Mark Johnson (R-Hood River)[1]
- Rep. Dennis Richardson (R-Central Point)[1]
- Rep. Sherrie Sprenger (R-Scio)[1]
- Rep. Jim Thompson (R-Dallas)[1]
- Rep. C. Gene Whisnant (R-53)[3][6][1], State Chairman,[10] International Relations Task Force member[11] and 2011 ALEC State Legislator of the Year[12]
Senate
Former Representatives
Here is a partial list of their legislative email addresses:
- Sen.TedFerrioli@state.or.us,
- Sen.LarryGeorge@state.or.us,
- Sen.FredGirod@state.or.us,
- Rep.JasonConger@state.or.us,
- Rep.SalEsquivel@state.or.us,
- Rep.TimFreeman@state.or.us,
- Rep.BruceHanna@state.or.us,
- Rep.WallyHicks@state.or.us,
- Rep.JohnHuffman@state.or.us,
- Rep.MarkJohnson@state.or.us,
- Rep.BillKennemer@state.or.us,
- Rep.MikeMcLane@state.or.us,
- Rep.DennisRichardson@state.or.us,
- Rep.SherrieSprenger@state.or.us,
- Rep.KimThatcher@state.or.us,
- Rep.JimThompson@state.or.us,
- Rep.GeneWhisnant@state.or.us,
Alec is alive and well up here in Alaska. Your post inspires me to they to expose what they are up to.
ReplyDeleteAlecExposed is a great place to start.
ReplyDelete