Not all Americans have heard of “ALEC,” the American Legislative Exchange Council, but every American is living under some of the “model” laws secretly pre-voted on by corporate lobbyists voting as equals with state legislators behind closed doors through this powerful special interest group. ALEC has undermined Americans’ civil rights, civil liberties, and human rights in numerous ways.
As many marked the passing of Nelson Mandela and recalled the hard-fought victory over the cruelty of apartheid, few knew ALEC was instrumental in thwarting divestment during the Reagan administration. Financially backed by corporate investors in South Africa, like Exxon and Dow, ALEC peddled disreputable claims to state and federal leaders, such as that “black South Africans oppose disinvestment,” and distributed photos of its leaders with Gatsha Buthelezi, whose Inkatha party aided the white regime and deployed death squads. Fast-forward to 2013: ALEC was silent on Mandela’s passing and its own role in prolonging apartheid.
Today, ALEC is most widely known for proliferating the Florida “Stand Your Ground” law initially cited to prevent the arrest of George Zimmerman for killing teenager Trayvon Martin. Before 2012, ALEC bragged that it got that bill introduced in states across the country. Few knew that this Florida law was unanimously ratified as a national ALEC model in a secret vote by corporate lobbyists and legislators at a meeting co-chaired by Walmart, the largest retailer of ammunition in the world. Walmart dumped ALEC in 2012 after the Zimmerman case went national. Since 2012, more than 90 private sector members have left ALEC amid controversy over its activities.
Such laws make it easier to get away with killing someone: Jury instructions stress the defendant’s right to “stand his ground” but not the shooting victim’s. Its immunity provisions could compel the victim’s family to pay the killer’s lost wages and fees. ALEC has since stopped promoting this bill, but it has done nothing to get such laws repealed.
That’s not all. Three-strikes laws, mandatory minimums, truth-in-sentencing, and more jail for shoplifting were pushed by ALEC. Its zeal to privatize prisons has fundamentally altered our criminal justice system, making it very profitable to arrest and lock up more Americans and immigrants and do so for longer. It should be no surprise that the Corrections Corporation of America and Geo Group bankrolled ALEC for years.