Allied with ALEC: Washington State’s “Dirty Half-Dozen”

The infamously stealthy pro-corporate, anti-worker American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has infiltrated deep into our Washington state legislature.Some legislators, supposedly elected to represent their down-home constituents, actually fork over hefty membership fees to ALEC. In return for their “contribution,” your elected representatives get to hobnob with corporate lobbyists and right-wing special interest groups who urge these bought-and-paid-for legislators to enact boiler-plate bills attacking working families across the nation.In short, instead of looking out for the interests of We the People, ALEC allies in Washington State and nationwide are busy doing the dirty work of They the Corporations. ALEC’s primary goal is to destroy the power of labor to organize and act as a common-sense balance against the power of ownership and management to do whatever they want.If you want your wages to plummet, benefits to be eliminated, and jobs to be outsourced, then by all means support the following legislators come election time:

• Rep. Jan Angel (R-26). Her glowing campaign literature rarely mentions one fact: Jan Angel is the Washington State Co-Chairman of ALEC.

  

• Rep. Charles R. Ross (R-14). Good ol’ Chuck is a member of ALEC’s Elections Task Force. Voter suppression, anyone?

  

• Sen. Barbara Bailey (R-10). She sits on the ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force. Reckon that’s why Sen. Bailey receives such hefty contributions from pharmaceutical and health insurance companies?

  

• Sen. Don Benton (R-17). Guess who’s the other Co-Chairman of ALEC? He’s a member of the International Relations Task Force, but spends most of his time fighting against environmental protection in his district.

  

• Sen. Doug Ericksen (R-42). Another member of ALEC’s Health and Human Services Task Force, Ericksen is virulently anti-union. Who needs collective bargaining? Let the marketplace dictate how low wages can go, right Doug?

  

• Sen. Pam Roach (R-31). Roach, for whom “bi-partisan” is a four-letter word, just loves rich folk, thinks they ought not be taxed so they continue their wondrous work of creating jobs. Presumably in China, Indonesia, South America…anywhere but here. No doubt that’s why she sits on ALEC’s International Relations Task Force, of which her buddy Don Benton is also a member.

  

Allies of ALEC? They’re no friends of working folk. Remember to send these corporate lackeys packing in November 2014.