” The answer is, “The Truth”.

Many high-profile disasters such as the Challenger explosion, the Deepwater Horizon debacle, and the Chevrolet Corvair which asphyxiated its passengers, can be traced to a failure of ethics. For Kansans who value people’s rights, healthcare, the environment, fiscal responsibility, lower food taxes, fair courts, and good schools – the 2021/2022 legislative session was an unmitigated disaster. The ethics failure that made it all possible was that of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce (KCC). In the 2020 election, they used unethical tactics to purge the legislature of moderates, leaving a supermajority of Republicans and far right extremists.

Two core values of the KCC are to be ethical in all that the Chamber advocates for and does, and to be passionate about the economic growth of Kansas and its people. However, the KCC is not passionate about the economic prosperity of all Kansans or all businesses as the KCC does not represent the small businesses in Kansas well. Those businesses are embedded in their communities and tax cuts take money away from things they value: roads, schools, hospitals, healthcare, and social services. This caused many local chambers of commerce to become disgusted with the KCC. As the Junction City Chamber of Commerce explained: “So when the Kansas Chamber decides to endorse a tax policy that only benefits very large industries… it just stands to reason that that tax policy is not a fit for most of their members.”

Under the leadership of CEO Alan Cobb, the KCC has increasingly aligned itself with Americans for Prosperity (AFP), which favors the prosperity of the already wealthy. That is not surprising, as Mr. Cobb once managed Government Affairs for Koch Industries and he later founded the AFP organization in Kansas. Not only does the KCC now favor the wealthy, but it has acquired questionable ethics.

After the 2020 elections, Don Hineman, past Majority Leader of the Kansas House, wrote an article, What is the Kansas Chamber of Commerce Hiding? Alan Cobb had recently claimed the Chamber’s political endorsements are 100% fact-based. Representative Hineman disagreed, writing “That is not the whole truth, and in some cases, it is an outright lie. Besides endorsements, the KCC sends out postcards that demonize the incumbent legislators they want to defeat. One of their most damaging postcards claims the targeted legislator voted to ‘retroactively raise our state taxes by $1.2 billion’. The card implies that, if re-elected, they would vote to raise your taxes. That is wrong, but it is only part of the story. That $1.2 billion tax increase, which passed in 2017, was deemed necessary by more than 2/3 of the Kansas Senate and 2/3 of the Kansas House. It was passed to correct earlier tax cuts that had devastated the state’s finances.”

He continued, “The state would have gone broke unless the tax increase passed. Most of the Republican Leadership and many staunch Republicans voted for the bill. However, the KCC is not targeting ALL the legislators who voted for the tax increase. The KCC’s leaders have mastered the craft of appearing unbiased and truthful when they are not. They are selectively targeting the independent-minded incumbents who do not obediently go along with whatever the Chamber wants.” My constituents received this card, even though I wasn’t even in the legislature then. So much for “100% fact-based”.

One thing the KCC really wanted was an additional tax cut for corporations who had repatriated intellectual property hidden offshore, even though those corporations had already received a lower Federal tax rate. The Republican leadership was happy to comply. They passed a tax bill which would have cost the state about $600 million over the next three years, most of that going to large corporations. The Governor vetoed it. Several moderate Republicans joined the Democrats in sustaining the veto, even though they had received severe arm twisting from the Republican leadership. One of the moderates spoke on the House floor, “We teach our children not to be bullies, yet the leadership is trying to bully us into voting for this bad bill “. He went on to explain how people had died on roads in his district because there wasn’t money to repair them, and how the state needed many things it couldn’t afford because of tax previous cuts. After the veto was upheld, the disappointed corporations proceeded to “Postcard” that legislator, flooding his district with postcards attacking him, until he had had enough and resigned in the middle of his term, citing stress as the reason.

In the next election, the KCC and AFP ran a smear campaign against many of the moderate Republicans who had voted to sustain the veto. They sent out dozens of postcards demonizing them, distorting their positions, misquoting them, and using misleading photoshopped pictures. The postcards were lies and bullying at its worst, but there was little the moderate candidates could do as political lies are considered protected speech. The negative campaigning worked, and the number of moderate Republicans in the legislature went from about thirty to just five. In the next session, the KCC got the tax cut they wanted, and Kansas is now suffering the disastrous consequences.

This article is specific to Kansas, but If your state has a chapter of Americans for Prosperity or a state Chamber of Commerce like the KCC, then you should try to to elect independent-minded legislators who will vote for legislation in the best interest of the average citizens. There is really no requirement for being a Chamber of Commerce. The Kansas City Greater Chamber of Commerce takes great pains to be sure they are not confused with the KCC.

Please note: This article was taken from one published in the Kansas Reflector at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/05/25/where-did-the-kansas-legislatures-moderates-go-the-kansas-chamber-targeted-them/.

Think tanks are a body of experts assembled  to provide ideas and advice on specific political or economic problems. The think tanks in the illustration have much in common. They are ideologically driven, funded by dark money, and they wish to reduce taxes and regulations on wealthy individuals and corporations. Combined, they spend over $1 billion a year to influence legislation and public policies.

One of their creations was the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wish lists to benefit their bottom line. At ALEC meetings, corporate lobbyists and state Representatives* meet to approve “model” bills written by corporate lawyers. The model bills usually  have great sounding titles and may address a real problem, but they always grant something on the think tanks’ wish list.

The model bills are not useful unless they are passed into state laws. To do that, it is necessary to elect legislators who will favor corporate interests over those of the average citizen. In Kansas, Americans for Prosperity and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce have taken on that task. If legislators do not vote for bills in the interest of corporations and the wealthy, then these organizations try to make sure they are not reelected. They do this by dirty campaigning, with misleading ads, and postcards that distort the truth. They misquote targeted legislators, assigned them to positions they do not hold, photoshop unflattering pictures of them, and accused them of things they have never done. You may have received some of the postcards or seen some of the ads.

It has been ruled that telling political lies is protected speech, and there is little the attacked candidate can do about it. However, you can. VOTE for the candidate who will put your interests above those of the special interest groups.

*KS ALEC members: There are 47  ALEC members in the Kansas Legislature and some travel to ALEC meetings at state expense.They are listed below: 

KS House of Representatives

• Rep. Tory Marie Arnberger (R-112), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting ^[1], registered member
• Rep. John Barker (R-70), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1]; State Chair,^[2]Attended December 2014 Policy Summit at taxpayer expense^[3], and attended 2015 ALEC Annual Meeting with taxpayers covering registration fee^[4]
• Rep. Emil Bergquist (R-91), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1]
• Rep. Jesse Burris (R-82), registered member
• Rep. Michael Capps (R-85), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1]
• Rep. Blake Carpenter (R-81)registered member
• Rep. Will Carpenter (R-75), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1]
• Rep. Chris Croft (R-8), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1]
• Rep. J.R. Claeys (R-69)^[5][6]
• Rep. Susan Concannon (R-107), Attended December 2014 Policy Summit at taxpayer expense^[7]
• Rep. Leo Delperdang (R-94), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1], registered member
• Rep. Willie Dove (R-38), Attended December 2014 Policy Summit at taxpayer expense^[8][6]
• Rep. Renee Erickson (R-87), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1],^[9][10]
• Rep. Charlotte Esau (R-14), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1]
• Rep. Randy Garber (R-62)^[11]
• Rep. Dan Hawkins (R-100), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1],^[12] Attended December 2014 Policy Summit at taxpayer expense^[13]Attended 2015 ALEC Annual Meeting with taxpayers covering registration fee^[4]
• Rep. Ron Highland (R-51), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1], Highland’s staffer Mary Sabatini attended ALEC’s 2017 Annual Meeting
• Rep. Kyle Hoffman (R-116), paid ALEC membership February 2012^[14] Attended December 2014 Policy Summit at taxpayer expense^[15]
• Rep. Nick Hoheisel (R-97), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1]
• Rep. Steve Huebert (R-90)^[16]; Education Task Force^[17]
• Rep. Susan Humphries (R-99), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1], registered member
• Rep. Megan Lynn (R-49), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1]
• Rep. Stephen Owens (R-74), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1][9] [18]
• Rep. John Resman (R-121), registered member
• Rep. Ronald Ryckman Sr. (R-78), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1], attended 2011 ALEC Annual Meeting^[19]. Attended December 2014 Policy Summit at taxpayer expense^[20]
• Rep. Alicia Straub (R-113), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting ^[1],
• Rep. Joe Seiwert (R-101), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1], Communications and Technology Task Force^[21]attended 2015 ALEC Annual Meeting with taxpayers covering registration fee^[4]
• Rep. William (Bill) Sutton (R-43), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting ^[1], registered member
• Rep. Paul Waggoner (R-104), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting ^[1]
• Rep. Troy Waymaster (R-109), Attended December 2014 Policy Summit at taxpayer expense^[22]
• Rep. Barbara Wasinger (R-11), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting ^[1],
• Rep. Jene Vickrey (R-06), registered member

KS Senate

• Sen. Larry Alley (R-32), registered member, Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting ^[1][6][10]
• Sen. Richard Billinger (R-40), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1], registered member^[6][10]
• Sen. Kevin Braun (R-5), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1][10]
• Sen. Elaine Bowers (R-36), disclosed a $500+ gift from ALEC on her 2008 Statement of Substantial Interests^[23]
• Sen. Jim Denning (R-8)^[24][6]
• Sen. Bud Estes (R-38), registered member^[10]
• Sen. Richard Hilderbrand (R-13)^[25]
• Sen. Daniel J. Kerschen (R-26); Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force^[26]
• Sen. Julia Lynn (R-Olathe), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[1], attended 2011 ALEC Annual Meeting^[19][6][10]
• Sen. Ty Masterson (R-16), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting^[10][1]; State Chair,^[16][27]; Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force^[28]
• Sen. Mike Petersen (R-28), Communications and Technology Task Force^[29]
• Sen. Dennis Pyle (R-1)^[30]; Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force^[31]
• Rep. Gene Suellentrop (R-27), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting ^[10][1], Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force^[32]
• Sen. Susan Wagle (R-30), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting ^[1], former National Chairman, member of Board of Directors as of 2011,^[27]Attended December 2014 Policy Summit at taxpayer expense and is a member of ALEC’s executive committee ^[33], attended 2015 ALEC Annual Meeting^[4]
• Sen. Rick Wilborn (R-35), Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting ^[1], registered member

This article by the author  was first posted in the Oklahoma Policy Institute’s blog.  

This is a continuation in the series  Who Is ALEC ? and Academic Freedom and Democracy – ALEC Style, as it is important to keep the light on ALEC. On the surface, the American Legislative Exchange Council provides model legislation for state and national legislatures. Its membership boasts 300 corporations and special interest groups, and about 2000 state legislators, governors, US Congressmen, and US Senators. ALEC sponsors meetings where corporations and their representatives entertain our legislators and help craft “model legislation”. From the corporation’s viewpoint, it is “dream legislation” – and ALEC is the organization that helps their dreams come true. What corporation wouldn’t want legislation designed to limit liability, provide subsidies, weaken regulations, criminalize whistleblowing, lower taxes, provide an edge over competing technologies, or to transfer public funds to them by privatizing education, health care, workers comp, public pensions, and prison systems?

About 1000 model bills are available from ALEC. Legislators can copy the bills, change them to disguise their source, and present them as their own. Most voters, the press, and even legislative colleagues often do not realize that the legislation came from ALEC. ALEC’s hidden hand was exposed when a Florida lawmaker introduced a resolution urging “Congress to Cut the Federal Corporate Tax Rate” that carelessly included ALEC’s mission statement. Sponsoring ALEC legislation insures politicians they will receive support for reelection campaigns. ALEC’s legislation is supported by biased research, talking points, and slick ads to convince voters that the politicians are really looking after their best interests. 

 The press, average citizens, and small business owners are excluded from ALEC by steep fees and screening to insure harmony with ALEC’s mission. An elaborate system insures that information cannot be obtained by Freedom of Information Act requests. Much of ALEC’s secret activity is coordinated through Americans for Prosperity, a Libertarian think tank, which now has offices in all 50 states. ALEC takes great pains to keep secrets, as several corporations have withdrawn when their participation was discovered. Clearly, transparency and full, honest disclosure is need.  However, ALEC has 401(C)3 status, which makes it tax exempt and allows it to hide its agenda and the identity of donors. Although ALEC claims it is not a lobbying group, it is hard to see how claiming they are “coaching” and “educating” legislators exempts them from laws requiring disclosure of lobbying activities.

ALEC’ s most shameful activity is attempts to suppress the votes of those not likely to support its agenda – the poor, the elderly, minorities, college students, and working people. Paul Weyrich, the founder of ALEC, once explained why, saying “our leverage in the elections goes up, quite candidly, as a number of voters go down.” One of ALEC’s favorite tactics is to accuse detractors of being leftists or liberals to discredit them with religious groups and Conservatives. However, the network of think tanks and donors that support ALEC are not Conservative, but Libertarian, and their low regard for the for the truth  or the poor or is hardly Christian.  Citizens United gave corporations a large voice with their money, but it could not give them a heart or a soul.

 According to  Bill Moyer , ALEC is undermining our democracy. The strength of the United States is its unity. Corporations, through ALEC , Libertarian think tanks, and the far right wing of the Republican Party, are working to destroy that unity so they can escape regulation and avoid taxes. We live in a country with enough resources to insure that every citizen has food, shelter, medical care, education, and an opportunity to contribute back to society. That won’t happen as long as our legislatures are willing to let some citizens go without so others can have more. The best situation is a balance in power between business, labor and government. However, modern-day Libertarians want to give all the power to businesses, claiming that businesses making decisions in their self interest will lead to the most good for everyone, but the reality is that it makes the most good for the already wealthy.

On the surface, ALEC is the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization that provides model legislation for our state and national legislatures. The membership of ALEC is composed of 300 corporations, a number of special interest groups, and many politicians including about 2000 state legislators, governors, US Congressmen, and US Senators. ALEC sponsors meetings where the corporations and their lobbyists entertain the legislators and help craft what they call “model legislation”. From the corporation’s viewpoint, it is “dream legislation” – and ALEC is the organization that helps their dreams come true. What corporation wouldn’t want legislation designed to limit their liability, give them subsidies, shield them from regulation, criminalize whistleblowing, lower their taxes, provide them an edge over competing technologies, or to transfer public funds to them by privatizing health care, workers comp, public pensions, and prison systems?

The press, average citizens, small business owners are excluded from ALEC’s membership and their meetings.  There are steep fees to join, except for legislators, and ther are requirements to insure that members are in harmony with ALEC’s mission. They try to keep keep their membership, agendas, and minutes of their meetings from public scrutiny and most information about them is gained from leaks. An elaborate system has been set up to see that information cannot be obtained from legislators by Freedom of Information Act requests. Often, legislators meet with CEOs and corporate representatives, while citizens gather across the street to protest corporate greed. Much of ALEC’s secret activities are coordinated through Americans for Prosperity, a Libertarian think tank that now has offices in all 50 states.

Over the years, about 1000 model bills have been written, primarily by corporate lawyers with some input from legislators. State legislators copy these bills, change them to disguise their source, and present them as their own. It is like plagiarism with the author’s permission or copying someone elses homework rather than doing the necessary research. The legislation does not arise out of the needs of the state or the nation, but from the need of the corporations to increase their profits. The members of ALEC take great pains to keep the process secret and a number of corporations have withdrawn from ALEC over bad publicity when their participation was discovered.

With so many lawmakers involved, it is hard to keep secrets, particularly when many legislators are proud of their corporate relationships. And then, Murphy’s Law sometimes exposes ALEC’s hidden hand. A Florida lawmaker, Rachel Bergen, introduced a resolution to lower corporate tax rates, but was rather embarrassed when she forgot to remove the mission statement of ALEC.

Oops, the wording was hastily corrected, but the mistake alerted the press to the source of the proposal. Thom Hartmann took note of this error and proposed that all legislation that came from ALEC  should have a similar disclosure. How would it look if a House Bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline came with this disclosure?

Would a law to gut Wall Street regulation and the Consumer Protection Act pass if it came with this disclosure?

Congress has voted 37 times, at last count, to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Would that motion carry again if the bill had this disclaimer?

Probably. Many politicians have more loyalty to those who fund their campaigns than to the citizens. Supporting ALEC legislation carries an understanding that by sponsoring their bills, politicians will receive support for their reelection campaigns. ALEC’s legislation is supported with biased but academic sounding research, talking points, and slick ads to convince voters that the politicians are really looking after their best interests. Most voters, the press, and even legislative colleagues often do not realize that the legislation came from ALEC.

Clealy,  transparency and full and honest disclosure is need.  However, ALEC has 401(C)3 status as a charity, which makes it tax exempt and hides its motives and the identity of its donors. Although ALEC claims it is not a lobbying group, it is directly lobbying our state and national legislatures while getting around laws that limit lobbying and require disclosures of lobbying activities. One of the most shameful of ALEC’ s activities are attempts to suppress the votes of those not likely to support their agenda. Paul Weyrich, the founder of ALEC was once captured on tape, as shown at 3:49 in this video, explaining that he didn’t want everyone to vote, saying “our leverage in the elections goes up, quite candidly, as a number of voters go down.” That was a long time ago, but Alec is still supporting voter suppression laws that make it more difficult for the poor, the elderly, minorities, college students, and working people to vote.

Though mainly supporting corporate interests, ALEC legislation often gives a nod to religious groups and to conservatives to win their support. One of its favorite tactics is to accuse detractors of being leftists or liberals to discredit them with conservatives and Christians. However, the network of think tanks and donors that support Alec are not Conservatives, but they are Libertarians . It is also hard to see how an organization that has such little regard for the poor or for the truth can be considered Christian.  Citizens United may have given corporations a large voice with their money, but it could not give them heart or a soul. Besides hiding their funding sources, their agenda, and the identity of those supporting them, ALEC, according to  Bill Moyer ,  is undermining the principles upon which the United States was founded.

The strength of the United States is through its unity. However, Libertarians have been working very hard lately, through ALEC , their think tanks, and the far right wing of the Republican Party, to destroy that unity so they can escape regulation and avoid taxes. We live in a country that has enough resources that we could make sure that every citizen has food, shelter, medical care, education, and an opportunity to contribute back to the society. But that won’t happen as long as Congress follows the wishes of those who are willing to let other citizens go without so they can have more. The best situation would be to have a balance in power between business, labor and government. The modern-day Libertarians want to give all the power to the businesses. Their overarching philosophy is that businesses who make decisions in their self interest will lead to the most good for everyone, but the reality seems to be that it makes the most good for the wealthy.

(c)  2013 J.C. Moore