For What It's Worth
Eye of the Tigress
Who Else Gives to ALEC?
Many global corporations and trade associations. ALEC claims to have over 300 corporate "members," and each pay between $7,000 and $25,000 or more to be members, plus fees to have a vote on a task force and for other sponsorships. The names of all of these entities is not known. We do know that the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group that aids the largest companies in the world like Koch and Exxon, gave ALEC $50,000 last year. And, as GreenPeace has documented through public filings, the Exxon corporation and its foundation have given a combined total to ALEC in the past decade or so of over $1.4 million. Other current ALEC corporate leaders have given an undisclosed sum to ALEC this year and before.These companies include: CenterPoint 360 (a firm that helps companies "manage legislation"), Altria (formerly Phillip Morris tobacco), the American Bail Coalition (the trade group for for-profit bail bonds), AT&T, Bayer (aspirin), Coca-Cola, Diageo (Crown Royal and other liquor), Energy Future Holdings (Texas electricity), ExxonMobil, GlaxoSmithKline (Tums and other brands), Intuit (Quickbooks), Johnson & Johnson (lotion), Koch Industries (Georgia Pacific paper products and other brands), Kraft Food (Macaroni and Cheese dinners), Peabody Energy (the largest private coal company in the world), Pfizer (Viagra), PhRMA (the pharmaceutical trade group), Reed Elsevier (Lexis/Nexis legal research), Reynolds American (tobacco), Salt River Project (energy), State Farm Insurance, United Parcel Service, and Wal-Mart (world's largest retailer).
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Legislative_Exchange_Council
Excerpt:
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) describes itself as the largest “membership association of state legislators,” but over 98% of its revenue comes from sources other than legislative dues, primarily from corporations and corporate foundations.[1] After the 2010 congressional midterm elections, ALEC boasted that “among those who won their elections, three of the four former state legislators newly-elected to the U.S. Senate are ALEC Alumni and 27 of the 42 former state legislators newly-elected to the U.S. House are ALEC Alumni.” (A full list of the Congressional freshmen who are ALEC alums can be found here.) [2]
http://66.39.128.35/index.php?title=ALEC_Politicians
Excerpt:
ALEC Award-Winners
- President Ronald Reagan
- President George Herbert Walker Bush
- Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
- Governor Bobby Jindal (Louisiana)[1]
- Governor Rick Perry (Texas)[2]
- Former Governor Tommy Thompson (Wisconsin)
- Former Governor John Engler (Michigan)
- Governor Mary Fallin (Oklahoma)[3]
- Secretary William J. Bennett
- Senator Jack Kemp
- Congressman Tom Feeney
- Congressman Mark Foley
Featured Speakers
- President George W. Bush[4]
- Vice President Dick Cheney (1994, then Former Defense Secretary)
- Vice President Dan Quayle
- Attorney General John Ashcroft[5]
- Congressman Newt Gingrich
- Senator Trent Lott
- Chief Domestic Policy Advisor Gary Bauer (Family Research Council)
- Governor George Allen
- Senator Jon Kyl
- Governor George Pataki
- Senator Bob Dole
Alumni
- Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)
- Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois)
- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (1995 Chair of ALEC Business Policy Board)
- Speaker Tom DeLay (R-Texas)
- White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card (for George W. Bush’s Administration)[7]
- Senator Don Nickles (Oklahoma)
- Congressman Joe Wilson (recently called Obama a "liar")
- Representative Dan Burton (Indiana)
- Congressman Billy Tauzin (Louisiana)
- Representative Katherine Harris (Florida)
- Senator Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma)
ALEC Alumni in Congress
See more ALEC Alumni in Congress.ALEC Alumni Governors
(as of 2011)- Jan Brewer (Arizona)[8]
- Scott Walker (Wisconsin)[9][10]
- Terry Branstad (Iowa)[11]
- John Kasich (Ohio), identified by ALEC as involved in its formative years
- Former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating[7]
- Former Michigan Governor John Engler[7]
- Former Colorado Governor [[Bill Owens][7]
- Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson[7]
Politicians on ALEC's "Public" Board of Directors
See ALEC Board of Directors.Task Force Politicians
See ALEC Task Force Politicians.State Chairmen
See ALEC State Chairmen, including Previous State Chairmen.International ALEC Partners
- MEP Richard Ashworth – United Kingdom
- Senator Cory Bernardi – Australia
- MEP Adam Bielan – Poland
- MEP Martin Callanan – United Kingdom
- MEP Philip Claeys – Belgium
- MP David Darchiashvili – Georgia
- MEP Niranjan Deva – United Kingdom
- Honourable Iris Evans (PC - Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations) - Canada[12]
- MEP Cristofer Fjellner – Sweden
- Dr. Liam Fox – United Kingdom
- MEP Daniel Hannan – United Kingdom
- MP Chris Heaton-Harris – United Kingdom
- MEP Roger Helmer – United Kingdom
- Assemblywoman Ayesha Javed – Pakistan
- MEP Syed Kamall – United Kingdom
- MEP Michal Kaminski – Poland
- MEP Miroslaw Piotrowski – Poland
- MEP Ivo Strejcek – Czech Republic
- MEP Robert Sturdy – United Kingdom http://robertsturdymep.com/
- MEP Konrad Szymanski – Poland[13]
He was a major supporter of plans for part of an American antiballistic missile defense system to be based in Poland, infuriating Russia. Although that proposal by President George W. Bush was scaled back by President Obama, Polish officials have said they still plan to host American surface-to-air missiles in northern Poland.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ALEC_Award_Winners
Excerpt:
ALEC Award Winners include:
Legislator of the Year or Other Awards:
2011 Award-Winners
- Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA), Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award
- Former Rep. Dolores Mertz (D-IA), William J. Raggio Excellence in Leadership and Outstanding Service Award (for having been a member of ALEC for a minimum of 10 years, having served in a leadership position within ALEC, and having made a "demonstrable contribution to the success of ALEC through advancing Jeffersonian principles, recruitment, fundraising, or other comparable activity")
- Sen. Joel Anderson (R-CA), State Legislator of the Year
- Sen. Nancy Barto (R-AZ), State Legislator of the Year
- Rep. Richard Carlson (R-KS), State Legislator of the Year
http://www.truth-out.org/americas-secret-political-power/1325535857
ALEC - America’s Secret Political Power
by: Olivia Ward, The Star | News Analysis
A participant in a protest against the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) holds a sign in Cincinnati, Ohio, April 29, 2011. (Photo: Mentatmark)
Scottsdale, AZ - There’s something rotten in the air. A muggy, oniony, chemical smell that wafts over the lines of uniformed riot police, paddy wagons and metal barriers that are holding back a straggle of protesters waving slapdash placards reading “Shut Down ALEC.”
“Get back ma’am, for your own safety,” a courteous voice warns me. “They’re gonna start pepper spraying.”
Pepper spray?
It’s a surreal touch at the lush, sprawling Westin Kierland Resort, where the air is scented with fragrant flowering bushes and the aromatic lotions of the spa.
But the protesters are at the gate, and inside, hundreds of state legislators from all over the U.S., their wives and entourages are meeting with corporate leaders for a three-day annual policy summit. Or, to their banner-bearing foes, a cradle of “corporate profiteering at the expense of our communities.”
“Today only,” blazons a sign hoisted by a silver-haired protester, “Buy One Senator Get One Free!”
Excerpt:
Iran-Contra II commenced August 27, 2004, when CBS News broke the story that Defense Intelligence Agency Iranian policy analyst Larry Franklin was under investigation for allegedly spying for the state of Israel. [1]
Franklin allegedley offered highly classified draft documents regarding the United States policy towards Iran to two members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The two AIPAC Iran analysts, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, have retained a well known criminal defense attorney, Abbe Lowell, for counsel.[2]
Attorney General John Ashcroft assigned highly partisan Republican U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty to the espionage case. Charges of espionage were expected to be downgraded to charges of mishandling classified information.
Franklin's security clearance was revoked in June 2004.
Excerpt:
Larry Franklin
From SourceWatch
Lawrence (Larry) Franklin, the former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst with expertise in Iranian policy issues who worked in the office of Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith and reported directly to Feith's deputy, William Luti, was sentenced January 20, 2006, "to more than 12 years in prison for giving classified information to an Israeli diplomat" and members of the pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). [1][2]
Franklin will "remain free while the government continues with the wider case" and his "prison time could be sharply reduced in return for his help in prosecuting" former AIPAC members Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, [who] are scheduled to go on trial in April [2006]." [3]
"Franklin admitted that he met periodically with Rosen and Weissman between 2002 and 2004 and discussed classified information, including information about potential attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq. Rosen and Weissman would later share what they learned with reporters and Israeli officials." [4]
Background
Franklin was a Soviet analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency who transferred to the Middle East division in the early 1990's. He learned Farsi and became an Iran analyst, developing extensive contacts among Iranians who opposed the Tehran government. [5]
Franklin also has a military background. Franklin was a colonel in the Air Force Reserve who served two short tours at the United States Embassy in Tel Aviv
Excerpt:
Steven J. Rosen, former Director of Foreign Policy Issues for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), was fired by AIPAC in April 2004 and is awaiting trial in April 2006. [1]
On September 1, 2004, the New York Times reported that Rosen, along with fellow AIPAC employee Keith Weissman had been questioned regarding their involvement in an espionage case. Larry Franklin, a Middle East analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency was alleged to have passed classified information about Iran to Rosen and Weissman, who in turn are accused of relaying the information to the government of Israel.
Excerpt:
Keith Weissman, an Iranian affairs expert, was fired by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in April 2004 and is awaiting trial in April 2006. [1]
On September 1, 2004, the New York Times reported that Weissman, along with fellow AIPAC employee Steve Rosen had been questioned regarding their involvement in an espionage case. Larry Franklin, a Middle East analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency was alleged to have passed classified information about Iran to Rosen and Weissman, who in turn are accused of relaying the information to the government of Israel.
For more information, see the Iran-Contra II article.
Excerpt:
See: Pulse Media — The Kennedys vs Israel’s Lobby
Given AIPAC’s oversize clout in U.S. Middle East policy, it’s always informative to see just how many people are giving – and how much. When AIPAC’s founder, Isaiah Kenen, was dispatched in the early 1950s from his job at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs with orders to lobby the U.S. Congress for guns and diplomatic support as an American (rather than the U.S. State Department as an Israeli foreign agent), it was supposed to be only a six-month gig. As that operation morphed into a semi-permanent Washington institution run outside the normal purview of the Foreign Agents Registration Act office, AIPAC was forced to tap a very small base of wealthy donors (some with criminal records) while simultaneously receiving covert support from the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency in Jerusalem.
After that “conduit” foreign- funding ruse was uncovered by a Justice Department investigation, Kenen emerged from the crisis and slowly built back up AIPAC’s donor base, whipping up post-1967 Six-Day War donor fears and anxieties that Israel was in danger of being overrun (it wasn’t) if people didn’t send in their checks. Now, AIPAC is pushing largely the same “Israel in danger” emotional buttons, with Iran as the flashing red light.
Excerpt:
The Kennedys vs Israel’s Lobby
August 28th, 2009 § 24 Comments
Editor’s note: PULSE is delighted to welcome Grant F. Smith, director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRMEP) and author of many books, including America’s Defense Line, as our new feature contributor. In his first post Grant reveals the emerging details of the secret battles between the Kennedys and the Israel lobby.
AIPAC Founder Isaiah L. Kenen and Ted Kennedy
The lobby’s accolades for the late Ted Kennedy and his support of Israel mask the generally unknown conflicts fought by the senator’s older brothers. It is likely that lessons from the fiercest of all battles, fought behind the scenes by President John F. Kennedy alongside his brother and Attorney General Robert—guided the younger sibling’s political choices. Details of the JFK-RFK duo’s effort to register the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) parent organization, the American Zionist Council (AZC) as an Israeli foreign agent were shrouded in mystery until declassified in mid-2008.
Between 1962 and 1963 Senator J.W. Fulbright uncovered a massive network of financial “conduits” moving funds directed by the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem to Israel lobby startup groups across the United States. Even as JFK attempted to place Israel’s Dimona nuclear weapons program under US inspection, RFK ordered the AZC to openly register and disclose all of its foreign funded lobbying activity in the United States.
The DOJ and AZC fought their secret battle as Fulbright’s hearings disclosed the immense proportions of the Israel lobby effort. Nathan B. Lenvin, a DOJ attorney who had been after AIPAC’s founder Isaiah Kenen since 1951 to continue registering as a foreign agent after he left the employ of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took copious notes of the many meetings, AZC’s offers of limited registration and the DOJ’s counter offers.
But the law enforcement effort ended in tragedy. JFK’s assassination on November 12, 1963 in Dallas meant RFK’s political cover for the prosecution was gone and his days at the DOJ were numbered. He left to run for a New York senate seat. In 1965 the DOJ allowed the AZC to file a highly redacted and non-standardized FARA declaration in secret. The AZC then shut down and transferred lobbying activity to AIPAC, which refused to register.
RFK’s assassination in 1968 was followed a few months later by the quiet death of the 58 year old Nathan Lenvin during a DOJ recruiting trip in Chicago. Low level DOJ officials involved in the AZC registration battle such as Irene Bowman were gently eased out, while high officials willing to defer to the lobby, such as Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach and J. Walter Yeagley, moved on to stellar careers.
As details of the secret DOJ-Israel lobby showdowns continue to emerge, it is hard not to conclude that the younger Kennedy’s renowned accommodation, mastered as a child from within the shadows of his siblings, was as much a survival strategy as the hallmark of an effective politician.
http://www.irmep.org/ila/azcdoj/ (need to click the link here) ...cal
Excerpt:
DOJ orders the AZC to Register as a Foreign Agent
Documents
In the early 1960's Israel funneled $5 million (more than $35 million in today's dollars) into US propaganda and lobbying operations. The funds were channeled via the quasi governmental Jewish Agency's New York office into an Israel lobby umbrella group, the American Zionist Council. Senate Foreign Relations Committee investigations and hearings documented funding flows, propaganda, and public relations efforts and put them into the record. But the true fate of the American Zionist Council was never known, except that its major functions were visibly shut down and shifted over to a former AZC unit known as the "Kenen Committee," called the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (or AIPAC) in the late 1960's. The following chronology provides links to images of original Department of Justice case files released on June 10, 2008 under a Freedom of Information Act filing.
John F. Kennedy President, Robert F. Kennedy Attorney General
Document/File Date Contents
08/17/1963 AZC Executive Director Rabbi Jerome Unger letter and filing to FARA Section "Enclosed wherewith are the two reports of Income and Expenditures of the American Zionist Council..."
08/20/1963 Nathan Lenvin query asking if Irene Bowman would accept as FARA registration, Bowman: "Absolutely not!"
08/22/1963 J. Walter Yeagley memo to Nicholas Katzenbach: "There is also attached a proposed letter from me to Judge Rifkind requesting a registration to be filed within ten days."
08/23/1963 J. Walter Yeagley to FBI Director "..registration was originally solicited by letter dated November 21, 1962...Pending a determination as to whether further letter should be written insisting on registration no investigation will be required. You will be kept advised of developments in this matter."
10/11/1963 DOJ Demand for AZC Registration "the Department expects a response from you within 72 hours with regard to this matter."
10/17/1963 J. Walter Yeagley notes of DOJ AZC meeting attended by Nicholas Katzenbach. "Judge Rifkind then made a plea for no registration, stating it was the opinion of most of the persons affiliated with the Council that such registration would be so publicized by the American Council on Judaism that it would eventually destroy the Zionist movement...he did not believe his clients would file any papers or sign any papers indicating that the organization was an agent of a foreign principal. I told him that any such information or material that is supplied on that basis would be made part of the Department's public files available for inspection by the public..."
DOJ orders the AZC to Register as a Foreign Agent
Documents
In the early 1960's Israel funneled $5 million (more than $35 million in today's dollars) into US propaganda and lobbying operations. The funds were channeled via the quasi governmental Jewish Agency's New York office into an Israel lobby umbrella group, the American Zionist Council. Senate Foreign Relations Committee investigations and hearings documented funding flows, propaganda, and public relations efforts and put them into the record. But the true fate of the American Zionist Council was never known, except that its major functions were visibly shut down and shifted over to a former AZC unit known as the "Kenen Committee," called the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (or AIPAC) in the late 1960's. The following chronology provides links to images of original Department of Justice case files released on June 10, 2008 under a Freedom of Information Act filing.
John F. Kennedy President, Robert F. Kennedy Attorney General
Document/File Date Contents
08/17/1963 AZC Executive Director Rabbi Jerome Unger letter and filing to FARA Section "Enclosed wherewith are the two reports of Income and Expenditures of the American Zionist Council..."
08/20/1963 Nathan Lenvin query asking if Irene Bowman would accept as FARA registration, Bowman: "Absolutely not!"
08/22/1963 J. Walter Yeagley memo to Nicholas Katzenbach: "There is also attached a proposed letter from me to Judge Rifkind requesting a registration to be filed within ten days."
08/23/1963 J. Walter Yeagley to FBI Director "..registration was originally solicited by letter dated November 21, 1962...Pending a determination as to whether further letter should be written insisting on registration no investigation will be required. You will be kept advised of developments in this matter."
10/11/1963 DOJ Demand for AZC Registration "the Department expects a response from you within 72 hours with regard to this matter."
10/17/1963 J. Walter Yeagley notes of DOJ AZC meeting attended by Nicholas Katzenbach. "Judge Rifkind then made a plea for no registration, stating it was the opinion of most of the persons affiliated with the Council that such registration would be so publicized by the American Council on Judaism that it would eventually destroy the Zionist movement...he did not believe his clients would file any papers or sign any papers indicating that the organization was an agent of a foreign principal. I told him that any such information or material that is supplied on that basis would be made part of the Department's public files available for inspection by the public..."
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