Investigating Power
The Center for Media and Democracy, a national watchdog group, has traced efforts to pre-empt local bag bans to December 2014, when a group funded by some of the largest plastics manufacturers in the country, called the American Progressive Bag Alliance, paid ALEC to present a workshop.
The Legislature spent a several days fussing with a female legislator who thinks the best way for a woman to progress in the legislature is to “spread her legs.” She should have included the males compromising themselves for the special interests and lobbyists. Their votes are often for sale on legislative bills written and promoted by ALEC. Here’s what the Center for Media and Democracy says about ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council): “ALEC is a powerful (group). Through the secretive meetings of ALEC, corporate lobbyists and state legislators vote as equals on ‘model bills’ that often benefit the corporations’ bottom line at public expense. ALEC is a pay-to-play operation where corporations buy a seat and a vote on ‘task forces’ to advance their legislative wish lists. Participating legislators then bring those proposals home and introduce them in statehouses across the land as their own brilliant ideas; without disclosing that corporations crafted and voted on the bills. ALEC has over 1,000 of these bills introduced by legislative members every year, with one in every five of them enacted into law.”
Other companies that have the manpower to keep up with the needs of students come with ethical problems that are just as large as those of Aramark. Sodexo, for instance, has been embroiled in multiple scandals over the past decade, including reaching a $20 million settlement with the state of New York in 2010 for overcharging school districts that it had supplied food to, according to the Center for Media and Democracy.
“This is legislative capture,” says Lisa Graves, the executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, which has long tracked the influence of ALEC. “Very special interests who oppose progressive policies are using state legislatures to advance their interests in ways that are deeply antidemocratic.”
The Center on Wednesday sued the Trump administration to safeguard the coal-leasing moratorium, and last week, along with noted conservation biologist Stuart Pimm and the Center for Media and Democracy, launched an effort to prevent hundreds of environmental data sets on government websites from being removed by the administration.
Pruitt’s testimony was proven false after a lawsuit filed in February by the watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy forced the release of thousands of pages of his emails, which showed that he had used his personal account to carry out official communications multiple times.
ALEC, Chambers of Commerce, Democracy
It’s the latest advance in an all-out battle many states are waging against local efforts to increase their residents’ wages and benefits. As more cities pass minimum wage increases and paid sick leave requirements, amid Congressional inaction on both issues, preemption bills stymieing their efforts have proliferated. According to the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), every year has seen more states consider such legislation, with 36 states in 2016, up from 29 the year before and 23 the year before that.
The Center for Biological Diversity, along with noted conservation biologist Stuart Pimm and the Center for Media and Democracy, launched an effort today to prevent hundreds of environmental data sets on government websites from being removed by the Trump administration.
Several public health advocacy groups have filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit that aims to undo OSHA’s requirement for employers to electronically submit worker injury and illness data for public view.
On March 21, organizations including watchdog group Public Citizen, the American Public Health Association, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, and the Center for Media and Democracy filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. The groups argue that they are entitled to act as defendants in the lawsuit, which was filed against OSHA by the National Association of Home Builders and other industry groups.
The Center for Media and Democracy filed a lawsuit against Pruitt Feb. 7 for not releasing 3,000 emails the organization sent open records requests for in 2015 and 2016. On Feb. 16, the day before Pruitt was confirmed as the EPA administrator, an Oklahoma judge ordered him to release the emails.
On Feb. 22, more than 7,500 of Pruitt’s emails were released, revealing that Pruitt did use a personal email account and that he had been communicating with organizations like American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, discussing changes he could make in the EPA that would benefit them, among other things.