HealthCare Notes

4/7/14

Documents from Open Records Lawsuit Further Undermine Claims that ALEC Is Legislator-Driven

Documents from Open Records Lawsuit Further Undermine Claims that ALEC Is Legislator-Driven

"New documents released as a result of the Center for Media and Democracy's open records lawsuit against American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) vice-chair Senator Leah Vukmir provide more evidence that lobbyists and special interest groups are calling the shots within ALEC, undermining that group's latest PR spin that it is a "legislator-driven" organization.

The previously-undisclosed records from ALEC's Spring 2013 meeting show a Florida-based State Policy Network lobbying group instructing Senator Vukmir and other legislators to introduce a "model" resolution for legislators to thwart Medicaid expansion in their state, and even writing an entire "script" for legislators to parrot in the ALEC task force meeting -- contradicting ALEC's claims to reporters last year that only legislators propose model policy, and demonstrating that such claims are merely a talking point."