Of great importance to anyone in the US who enjoys or
just appreciates the beauty of the American great outdoors is an article that
appeared today at the Center for American Progress.
This article is VERY important in understanding how ALEC
members view our public lands.
ALEC members view our public lands as a commodity to be sold
or traded to ALEC corporate profit members – becausetheycan.
It is the duty and responsibility of EVERY American to make
sure that this rape of public lands by American Legislative Exchange Council members
does not occur.
PLEASE – PLEASE – PLEASE read the whole article
Some snips:
seven western states have decided to
embark on unconstitutional and quixotic battles attempting to force the federal
government to turn millions of acres of public lands over to the states.
Rather than being managed so that all
Americans can enjoy them, turning our public lands over to states would result
in their management on the whims of governors and state legislatures, who in
the West are often quite conservative and tend to ideologically favor limited
regulation and private profits. According to one state lands commissioner,
these bills would be “catastrophic” to the public lands that Americans know and
love.
These state legislative efforts are
nothing more than corporate-backed messaging tools that can be traced to
conservative front groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, or
ALEC, and Americans for Prosperity, as we discuss further below.
As the Associated Press reported,
“Lawmakers in Utah and Arizona have said the legislation is
endorsed by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group that advocates
conservative ideals, and they expect it to eventually be introduced in other
Western states.”
And then there is this:
March 12, 2013
SANTA FE, N.M. - When both houses
of the New Mexico Legislature failed to advance bills to transfer public land
management from federal to state hands, it meant more than following the words
of the U.S. Constitution.
According to Kim McCreery, a
regional director and staff scientist at New Mexico Wilderness Alliance in
Silver City, passing such legislation would have left the state to wrestle with
the high costs of significant management issues.
Kim McCreery said it's more than a
lack of cooperation. She said these bills were not based in grassroots
concerns. Instead, they appear to be related to the American Legislative
Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization which produces model legislation to
promote conservative ideas.
"If you go back to 1995,
there was an ALEC bill called the Sagebrush Rebellion Act," she recalled.
"If you look at the current bills, you'll see that a lot of the language
is very similar."
Read the whole thing
Leaving "the state to wrestle with high costs of significant management issues"
Proof that ALEC policy is fiscally irresponsible at the state level.
Stupid, irresponsible "model legislation" - by ALEC.
NOW
If that isn’t bad enough news.
Let’s consider one more thing
ALEC’s
International Relations Task Force
and
Federal Relations Working Group
Meeting of the
International Relations Task Force
and
Federal Relations Working Group
States and Nation Policy Summit/Scottsdale, AZ
Friday, December 2, 2011
Some snips of the ALEC “Model Legislation” Reviewed at that meeting:
Disposal
and Taxation 1 of Public Lands Act
WHEREAS, in the past, the Federal
Government disposed of lands to persons with a logical nexus to the lands,
including homestead claims, mining, timber, and grazing claims, the state of
{insert state} expects that the United States Congress will do the same with
respect to any lands not ceded directly to the state; and
WHEREAS, the Federal Government has an
obligation, to present and all future generations, to pay the public debt, yet
has demonstrated an inability to reduce the growing national debt even as it
continues to worsen at an exponential rate.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that
the Legislature of the state of {insert state} strongly urges the Federal
Government to use proceeds from the sale of lands not disposed directly to the
state only to pay the public debt pursuant to the Congressional Disposal and
Taxation of Public Lands Act (December 2011) 5 Resolutions of 1780 and 1790 and
the language of the Andrew Jackson 183 veto of the lands bill that sought to
use proceeds for some other purpose than this solemn compact obligation over
the western public lands.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the
Legislature of the state of {insert state} urges the United States Congress in
the most strenuous terms to engage in good faith communication, cooperation,
coordination, and consultation with the state of {insert state} regarding those
lands wherein the public has developed a reasonable expectation of multiple use
that must be disposed of directly to the state.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United
States Congress should only dispose of lands not ceded to the state to persons
with a logical nexus to the lands, including homestead claims, mining, timber,
and grazing claims.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of
this resolution be sent to the United States Department of the Interior, the
Majority Leader of the United
States Senate, the Speaker of the United
States House of Representatives, the members of the congressional delegation of
{insert state}, and the Governors, Senate Presidents, and Speakers of the House
of the 49 other states.
Resolution
Requesting the Obama Administration to Confer and Consult
Therefore be it resolved: The American
Legislative Exchange Council requests Congress and the Administration to
acknowledge and respect the role of states in a federal constitutional
republic.
The United States Congress, which
represents the interests of the states individually and collectively, is the
appropriate public body to determine management of resources within a state’s
borders.
ALEC further calls on Congress and the
Administration to commit to greater consultation with the states and to
recognize cost-benefit and job-impact analyses must be addressed in order to
understand how federal regulations impact states and their respective citizens.
the
ALEC
International
Relations Task Force
and
Federal Relations
Working Group
is a group that consists of “ALEC state legislators” and
FOREIGN NATIONALS.
Foreign national working on US policy - outside the purview of the US State Department.
Foreign national working on US policy - outside the purview of the US State Department.
Because of the secretive nature of ALEC meetings – we have
no way of knowing which foreign nationals were in attendance at the Friday,
December 2, 2011 for the International Relations Task Force and Federal
Relations Working Group when the discussions and voting on ALEC “model
legislation” relating to AMERICAN PUBLIC LANDS was held.
As noted in an excellent piece of investigative journalism
written by Bob Sloan – Voter Legislative Transparency Project.
One major difference ALEC has
attempted to bury deeply and not disclose is the involvement of foreign nationals holding elected
offices in their governments who also hold full ALEC membership(s) – including
the right to a vote [on ALEC “model legislation”]. These [foreign national] individuals help develop US policies, write ALEC
resolutions and proposed model bills to be implemented in the United States – and internationally. They [foreign
nationals] cast votes alongside corporate reps and lobbyists and
conservative state lawmakers on US
state and federal model legislation, formulate resolutions sent out to the
President, Congressional members and foreign governments.
These foreign officials then return to their
government posts and lobby on behalf of the same initiatives they helped
develop for the US
– initiatives being lobbied for by ALEC to their [foreign national]
governments using the same resolutions, models or
policy demands.
While ALEC would have us all believe
these individuals are simply “delegates” or “representatives” from across the
pond who share their conservative ideology and sometimes attend and speak on
behalf of their respective governments at ALEC’s three annual meetings,
seminars and “academies” (20 to 30 per year)…these foreigners are in fact ALEC
members in good standing who participate in critical and important US policy
development advanced under ALEC’s conservative agenda.
foreign participation in developing US laws and
policies –
From a previous blog entry:
“foreign nations are already taking part in establishing U.S.
policies related to voting and foreign matters – through ALEC.”
We can add:
“foreign nations are already taking part in establishing U.S. policies related to American public land
and the commons of the United
States– through ALEC.”
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