Pesticide-Friendly Bill from LePage Mirrors Model by Secretive National Group

Arn Pearson, general counsel of the Wisconsin-based Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit that scrutinizes ALEC, says the group’s corporate members fear that local ordinances might become precedents for statewide policies. “ALEC is a Republican operation,” Pearson said, “and now that the Republicans have control over the majority of states, they have been turning very aggressively to strip municipalities – which often have more Democratic control – of their ability to pass local laws.”