Bill Mill | Greenpeace Blogs

Today, Greenpeace and the Coalition to March on Wall Street South sent a letter to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee, highlighting the DNC’s connection to the American Legislative Exchange Council through Duke Energy.

The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, is a corporate bill mill that not only drafts state laws attacking clean energy and global warming laws, but circulates voter suppression laws that the Democratic party has called “unnecessary and suppressive.” These “Voter ID” laws require registered American voters to show government-issued identification at the polls, something millions of legitimate voters do not have. Voters who are disenfranchised by these laws disproportionately represent communities of color, senior citizens and college students. A recent report by the Philadelphia Inquirer found that of the 39 of the 62 “Voter ID” bills introduced in various states over the last two years were linked to ALEC. Continue reading →

In the lead up to this fall’s Democratic National Convention, polluter giant Duke Energy has offered a $10 million loan. Good thing, since Duke CEO Jim Rogers has taken the lead on the remaining fundraising for the DNC and is now being criticized for doing a shoddy job of it amid his controversial takeover as CEO following a big merger with Progress Energy.

Lost amid this dramatic transition is Duke’s ironic role in the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. ALEC is the infamous corporate bill mill that connects notably-conservative state lawmakers with lobbyists, PR agents and other representatives of companies ranging from Koch Industries to Phillip Morris to Pfizer. ALEC’s agenda spans across Big Business priorities, creating template state laws that serve to deny climate change science, privatize schools, protect killers (as with the Trayvon Martin “castle doctrine” legislation) and disenfranchise voters through Voter ID laws.

Voter ID laws that Democrats call “suppressive,” an ironic contrast to Duke’s $10 million line of credit to the DNC.

Duke Energy is heavily invested in ALEC in several ways. Duke sponsors ALEC’s meetings, dedicates its staff to help oversee ALEC’s state operations, and consistently operates in ALEC’s anti-environmental task force, a who’s-who of polluters and apologists attacking clean energy legislation that Duke purportedly supports. Here’s an overview of Duke’s notable role in ALEC: Continue reading →