MediaMatters on Michigan Media: Passing of ALEC Asbestos Bill Should Matter, But Doesn't

This just out from MediaMatters.org with the title "No Oxygen: Michigan Media Silent As State Passes ALEC Bill Limiting Compensation For Asbestos Victims":

"Last week, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) approved a bill that curbs the ability of asbestos-exposure victims to recover losses from some companies that are legally responsible. The bill was pushed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Crown Holdings, Inc., a Fortune 500 corporation trying to legislate its way out of compensating cancer and mesothelioma victims who were exposed to asbestos by a company it purchased. According to a Media Matters analysis, Michigan's two largest newspapers, the Detroit Free Press and the Grand Rapids Press, have been utterly silent on the bill from introduction to its passage."

Actually, not being on MLive.com means the story is not a multitude of Michigan media outlets, many of whom have yet to run only occasional stories on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) currently embroiled in controversy.

This is Just One State where the ALEC Story Blackout Continues

Michigan - Last fall the ALEC Asbestos bill was submitted by crony capitalist Michigan Republicans AGAIN for the THIRD TIME. Here's the timeline and docs:

House Bill 4601 (20112-12)
Sponsor:  State Rep. Joe Haverman (Not yet a documented ALEC Member but close associate of Wayne Kuipers who was an ALEC member and submitted the same bill in 2005-2006)
Summary

House Bill 5167 (2009-2010)
Sponsors: Primary Mark Meadows (D-East Lansing) AND Tonya Schuitmaker(R) (ALEC MI State Chair)
Committee: Judiciary
Complete to 10-13-09
Summary

Senate Bill 591 (Substitute S-3) (2007-2008)
Sponsor: State Sen Wayne Kuipers
Committee: Judiciary
Passed by the GOP Senate
Data Submitted: June 2007
Date Completed: 8-13-08
Bill as Passed by GOP Michigan State Senate

Note: Kuipers was term-limited, confirmed ALEC member and still all-around troublemaker, Kuipers referenced ALEC in his publicly accessible submissions. Kuipers PAC very good candidate for NPR-style ALEC contribution tracing from that time period. This ALEC model was covered in our first MI ALEC investigation.

FROM a posting this morning on Blogging for Michigan Daily Briefing on ALEC:

Blue Cross Blue Shield was the first Michigan-based corporate member to withdrawal from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) or “not renew” its member to the right-wing ‘service provider” that has been the source for “model legislation” being introduced in multiple US States for decades, including Michigan. In the statement by BCBS, they declared covered by a story in The Hill:

"The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association's decision not to renew our membership with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) was made in February 2012 as part of our budgeting process, and was independent of any outreach or campaign by another organization."

In a stunning statement, ALEC announced that ALEC was shutting down its “Public Safety and Elections Task Force” one of ten working groups where State Legislators and Corporations meet to write legislation or ALEC Models that are then voted on and approved by the “Private Sector” members, nearly a dozen of which have dropped ALEC membership recently fearing ‘brand damage’ to their products and services.

From one of a blizzard of stories on the announcement this one by Paul Abowd at the Center for Public Integrity (@iWatch):

ALEC spun its announcement by declaring that it was “refocusing our commitment to free-market, limited government and pro-growth principles.” The statement from ALEC national chair David Frizzell, an Indiana state representative, said the group was eliminating its Public Safety and Elections Task Force and “reinvesting these resources in the task forces that focus on the economy.” (break) “While we recognize there are other critical, non-economic issues that are vitally important to millions of Americans, we believe we must concentrate on initiatives that spur competitiveness and innovation and put more Americans back to work.”

Sounds familiar right? Because its exactly the same stuff Snyder is using.

By the way, watch out for Paul Abowd, a native Michigander, has done other stories on Michigan issues including a piece in Mother Jones “Michigan's Hostile Takeover” that focused on Emergency Manager issues in Pontiac and he shows the connections between Lou Schimmel, the writings and forming of PA 4 legislation or Emergency Manager Law, and his denial of connections to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland, proponents of the privatization of Michigan’s public assets.  Schimmel literally wrote the book on EM.

A list of identified Michigan ALEC Corporation Members was posted earlier on BFM and also an interesting piece with a bunch of ALEC related links  on Snyder and ALEC in Michigan on a fairly new blog in the progressive Michigan blogosphere was getting a lot of hits yesterday as well.

Seeming oblivious to all the fuss about ALEC, which has been stretched for weeks across the headlines of other US States, Michigan’s press remains largely quiet, or continues ALEC “business as usual”.  This example from the Detroit Free Press, doing a cut and paste (just like the bills are made law by the way – not kidding) on the ALEC “Rich States, Poor States” used by Rick Snyder and Michigan Republicans to justify their overwhelming business over people legislation:

The state placed 17th in an economic outlook ranking that is part of the 2012 American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index.  That's up from No. 25 last year and the highest level since 2008, when Michigan also ranked 17th. (break) Last year, Michigan's Legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder overhauled the state's tax system, reducing or eliminating taxes for many businesses in an effort to spur job growth.

Another top (so-called “rich”) state is that of Utah, from which Snyder’s Budget Director John Nixon was drafted (pun intended).  Utah is a state with a history of ALEC legislation and use of the “ALEC State Budget Toolkit” elements of which are in the Snyder budgets.  

Groups around the country are starting to debunk the ALEC report, here is an example from a critic from the Idaho Statesman in ALEC ranked #6 Idaho:

Among the top 10 states, eight have GOP governors. Republicans control the House in all 10 states and hold the Senate in eight states. Looking at the bottom 10, seven have Democratic governors, and Democrats control the Senate in seven states and the House in seven states. The outlier is Maine, a Republican state that ranked No. 47 in the study.

(break)

My problem with the ALEC study is in its labeling. If this were called a scorecard on tax rates or even “the cost of doing business,” I wouldn’t have any heartburn. But this study suggests that the lone true path to prosperity comes by low-balling the cost of state government. That’s political spin, pure and simple. And it helps explain why ALEC, despite its claims of non-partisanship, is viewed with such suspicion.

Not only are the ALEC rankings spurious, they are unreliable. Consistently conservative Idaho has ranked in ALEC’s Top 10 three of the four previous years. If we’re so poised for economic recovery, wouldn’t we be doing better?

Michigan associated ALEC Corporate  identified and documented so far by ALECexposed.org includes:

Amway (Alticor) (former but highly suspected as current)
Amisure-Michigan Mutual
AT&T
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Chrysler
Comerica
CMS Energy (Consumers Power)
Dow Chemical
DTE Energy
Ford Motor Company
General Motors
Hannover Insurance
PNC
Sara Lee
SBC
Upjohn

There maybe be more, nobody but ALEC knows due to the fact they do not release their membership lists of State Legislator or Corporations, Foundations or Associations belonging to the organization that is "ALEC-tro-fying" our Nation's State Legislatures and State Laws.

Note: The Center for Media and Democracy corporate (corporations, associations, law firms, etc) members list is now somewhere around 406 now (less 11 this past week and a half), but the working list among researchers is at 671 corporations  includes past and present – and companies that were major sponsors of ALEC annual conferences and events which costs about the same a formal ‘membership’.

The working LIST of MICHIGAN individual ALEC State Legislators, US Congressman and several non-political members (like Andrew Card) past and present is now over 150.

This time it's the Michigan MSM that has been smoked.

RELATED: First State Level Investigation of ALEC in Michigan
RELATED: Simple but popular post on ALEC's "Donate Now" Button