Tim Cullen to run against Walker? Is that dog blue?

I read yesterday on Uppity Wisconsin that Tommy Thompson is endorsing Democrat Tim Cullen to run against Scott Walker in the upcoming recall election. Couple comments:

• Walker spoke highly of Cullen in the phone call with blogger Ian Murphy posing as David Koch;
  
• Cullen served in the Thompson administration as head of Health and Human Services;
  
• In the background: Thompson did the advance work that allowed the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to attack and quash democracy in Wisconsin.
  

I figure the junta is either trying to hinder Cullen's bid for the Governorship by tainting him with the stink of their own corruption, or Cullen is more one of them than one of us. Either way, any endorsement from Walker's cabal of fascist thieves, particularly of a candidate preparing to run against them, brings both the candidate and the endorsement under suspicion.

The Walker administration is corrupt, anti-democratic and un-American. Accepting endorsements from them, or the likes of Thompson, is questionable strategy at best.

Just sayin'.

The Fox in the Statehouse

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) was formed in 1973 to promote conservative social policy and influence legislators on issues like abortion and the equal rights amendment. Its founder, Paul Weyrich, also co-founded the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation, and is responsible for the catch-phrase "Moral Majority."

Weyrich has pretty much disappeared from ALEC's public face. The organization, with the help of none other than former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson ("I always found new ideas and then I’d take them back to Wisconsin, disguise them a little bit, and declare that it’s mine."), morphed through the years into the "ultimate smoke-filled room" that it is today, providing access for corporate members to state legislators and writing bills that benefit big business, big pharma, and big oil, which are then taken back to state legislatures and in part passed into law. In 2009, according to their own Legislative Scorecard, there were 826 ALEC bills introduced in statehouses across the U.S., of which 115 were enacted into law.

ALEC holds a number of functions each year, basically opportunities for corporate reps and legislators to meet, and from which each legislator may return with a package of pre-researched and pre-written legislation that makes the lawmaker look diligent, and favors whichever of ALEC's corporate members has an agenda in their home state.

You can see this fascinating process at work right here in Wisconsin. Taking three current or former (as of 2010) corporate members of ALEC (listed in a report by the American Association for Justice, formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA)), let's take a guess and match up the Wisconsin legislation that has been written for them and passed by our legislature:

National Association of Bail Insurance Companies: language in the budget bill that strikes down a ban on their activities in Wisconsin. Jerry Watson, American Bail Coalition, is also immediate past chair of the ALEC Private Sector Board. Update: This was vetoed by Walker before he signed the bill.

National Beer Wholesalers Association: language in the budget bill that forces local craft breweries to distribute their products through wholesalers and barring smaller breweries from distributing directly to retail outlets.

National Rifle Association: the concealed-carry law recently passed.

Some other interesting facts from the Association for Justice report:

• On the ALEC Private Sector Board: Mike Morgan, representing Koch Industries.
  
• The Public Sector Board is comprised of 23 members, of whom only three are Democrats.
  
• ALEC's Wisconsin State Chairmen in 2010:
  Scott L. Fitzgerald and Michael D. Huebsch.
  

So . . . You thought the Wisconsin Legislature represented your interests? They are way, way too busy for that nonsense.

Dice

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Comfort is the enemy of growth