Investigating Power
Around seventy lawmakers, lobbyists, and researchers gathered yesterday at the American Legislative Exchange Council’s policy summit in San Diego to hear speakers push actions and model legislation in the GOP’s manufactured culture war over the supposed teaching of critical race theory in public schools
The American Legislative Exchange Council kicked off its annual policy summit today with a meeting of its secret working group on election suppression and gerrymandering strategies, and an “Academy” on right-wing plans to rewrite the U.S. Constitution.
Spurred by $158 million from one secret donor, DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund pumped a record amount of money into right-wing campaigns to remake the Supreme Court, spread election and climate disinformation, and support extremists last year.
While the July 26-28 session was ostensibly led by the dark money group Honest Elections Project, it was organized, hosted, and bankrolled by ALEC, despite repeated claims by its CEO, Lisa Nelson, that the group does not work on voting issues.
A mix of high-powered lawyers, pastors, and corporate leaders funded the Council for National Policy’s 40th Anniversary celebration in May.
Tennessee state Sen. Brian Kelsey, a state chair and national board member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, allegedly used illegal contributions to further his campaign for Congress in 2016.
Both leading candidates in the Republican primary for secretary of state in Arizona support voter suppression legislation, and one is an insurrectionist backed by Trump.
At a Council for National Policy conference in May, top legislative members of the American Legislative Exchange Council took credit for advancing bills to severely restrict abortion access and target trans students in their states.
Pfizer likely may not have its executives at the QAnon conference in Las Vegas on Oct. 22-25, but three Arizona legislators it gave money to will be there as “special guests” and speakers.
The Maine Ethics Commission voted to authorize an investigation into whether the American Legislative Exchange Council violated state campaign finance laws by providing valuable voter management software to its legislative members for free as a “membership benefit.”