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ALEC News

Hypocrisy Alert: Speaker Vos and Rep. Craig Use Private Email, Too Wisconsin Republicans have been caught in the spin cycle with their latest attack on the state's independent, nonpartisan Government Accountability Board (GAB), which oversees elections and ethics. The GAB, which is led by a board of retired judges appointed by the governor, has been widely regarded as a national model for nonpartisan election administration. But this week the Republican-led legislature seeks to dismantle it as payback for investigating Governor Scott Walker. "Political payback" doesn't poll well, so Republicans have tried advancing a series of disingenuous arguments to justify the attack on the GAB. Read the rest of this item here. ALEC Vice-Chair Falsely Attacks CMD Senator Leah Vukmir The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) came under attack last week as Republicans fast-tracked bills to dismantle Wisconsin's nonpartisan Government Accountability Board (GAB) and gut the state's campaign finance laws. During a hearing on SB 294, Sen. Leah Vukmir, made a series of false claims to paint the GAB as inept and partisan. She claimed that the GAB had failed to investigate CMD for not abiding by lobby disclosure laws, when in fact CMD does no lobbying in Wisconsin. The charges were especially egregious as Vukmir is the second-highest-ranking legislative official in the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a group that has demonstrably lobbied in Wisconsin and in other states, but has never registered as a lobbyist in Wisconsin. Over and over again in the marathon hearing, citizens objected to Vukmir's bill and demanded to know who was behind it. Today, CMD can answer that question. The only group lobbying in favor of the bill to kill the GAB is David Koch's Americans for Prosperity. Read the rest of this item here. How SPN "Think Tanks" Will Spin ALEC's 2016 Agenda 270 This week, a shadowy network of state-based, right-wing think tanks and advocacy groups will convene with Koch operatives and other big donors in Grand Rapids, Michigan to coordinate their 2016 agenda for all 50 states. The State Policy Network (SPN) is a network of state-branded groups, like the Civitas Institute in North Carolina and the Goldwater Institute in Arizona, which appear to be independent yet actually are operating from the same national playbook. SPN plays a key role in driving the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) agenda, particularly by providing academic-like cover for ALEC's corporate-friendly policies. Read the rest of this item here.