Louisiana Voice

The furtive presence of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) staff members in Louisiana prior to the opening of the 2012 legislative session taints every action of the legislature and every bill endorsed by the administration to this point.

More than that, it calls into question the values of every legislator who is either a member of ALEC or took money from ALEC corporate members, or both.

Heretofore, we have harrumphed and ranted at the direct influence on the agenda of the administration and certain legislators acting as proxy for Gov. Bobby Jindal and ALEC. The aura of ALEC was there but we could not prove it.

We knew, of course, that it had to be more than coincidence that key committees were stacked with members who had taken large contributions—some for the maximum amounts allowable under law—from ALEC or Jindal himself—or both.

We also knew it was more than coincidence that the spate of “reform” bills tracked similar bills filed in virtually every other Republican-controlled statehouse—from Wisconsin to Florida to New Mexico to Arizona to Ohio.

But we could never point to a particular bill or group of bills and say definitively that ALEC was the author or sponsor.

Yes, we knew that ALEC holds regular conclaves, conferences, seminars and annual meetings all over the country to draft legislation to spoon-feed legislators for them to dutifully take back home and regurgitate to their constituents in the name of “reform” and “good government.”

But we could only speculate openly and though such speculation was done with the confidence we were right, it was still speculation.

Until now.

Until Rep. Greg Cromer, the ALEC State Chairman for Louisiana since 2010, resigned from the organization in a huff on Tuesday.

His reason? “It has been brought to my attention that there have been meetings and/or activities with ALEC staff members within the state of Louisiana I have not been privy to,” he wrote in his resignation letter. “As a courtesy I believe I should have been notified as to any activities that ALEC staff were expected to participate in within the state of Louisiana.”

That’s it. ALEC reps met secretly with legislators to go over proposed legislation for the upcoming legislative session. And Cromer was left out.

A freelance writer reported that the meeting was between ALEC staffers, representatives of the conservative State Budget Solutions and the chairmen of the House and Senate retirement committees, Rep. Kevin Pearson (R-Slidell) and Sen. Elbert Guillory (D-Opelousas), respectively.

Not so, says Cromer through an intermediary; it was another meeting. But through that same spokesperson he refused, when asked, to identify which meeting it was that piqued him so—not because the meeting was held, mind you, but because he was not informed of the meeting…or invited.

Apparently a clandestine meeting is okay so long as the state ALEC chairman is included and not left out of the loop.

And therein lies the cotton-pickin’ rub, as ol’ Billy Wayne Shakespeare would say if he were around today.

But thanks to Rep. Cromer’s apparent inadvertent outing of ALEC when he alluded to that pre-session meeting of the minds, we now have conclusive evidence of the heavy hand of ALEC in the affairs of the State of Louisiana. The smoking gun, if you will. The ultimate consultant, working for corporate America to better the lives of all the Joe Sixpacks out there in the hinterlands of working class Louisiana.

Now that we know with certainty that ALEC staffers did indeed meet with legislators before the session, whoever those legislators may have been, we can now jump up onto the soap box and cry foul at the top of our collective lungs.

Every living, breathing soul in Louisiana should emulate the late actor Peter Finch in the movie Network and call his or her legislators and repeat that classic line: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”

Every living, breathing soul in Louisiana should then pose this question to their respective legislators, especially to those have accepted bribes…er, campaign money from ALEC and Jindal: “Why are you not putting the interests of your constituents ahead of those of Piyush ‘ATM’ Jindal and the corporatocracy of the American Legislative Exchange Council?”

And ask your legislators if they are so weak-willed that they cannot ask tough, intelligent questions or challenge the governor? Are they so inept and so disconnected with the people of this state that it has somehow become necessary to allow the corporate members of ALEC, many of whom do not even pay taxes (see Wednesday’s LouisianaVoice post), to determine which laws and policies are best for the State of Louisiana?

Ask them if things are really so muddled up in Baton Rouge that decisions affecting millions of lives in this state must now be made by a series of consultants at contract costs that are draining the state of dollars faster than any of the state pension unfunded accrued liabilities?

And finally, while you’re at it, demand that the legislature go back and undo everything it has done in the name of Piyush and ALEC. All ALEC/Jindal-sponsored bills that have been approved by committees, the House and the Senate should be proclaimed null and void by acclamation. Tell the legislators that everything they have done to this point is tainted by the stain and smell of ALEC.

Send emails, make phone calls and if they don’t respond, you go back, Jack…, and do it again. And again. Keep asking until you get an answer.

As things stand right now, every voter in this state should feel insulted, incensed and infuriated.

And every legislator who accepted ALEC or Piyush “ATM” Jindal money should be ashamed and humiliated and feel more than a little soiled.