How Conservatives Hide Government From Its Citizens

It'll start in the fall, as legislators pre-file bills for the General Assembly session in January. Bills with inocuous or even progressive-sounding names that hide provisions to break the social compact, eliminate jobs and create a lords-and-serfs economy.

And we won't even be able to find out how it happened.

Charlie Pierce:

The main point of the reign of Scott Walker, the twice-elected goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage their midwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Wisconsin, has been to dismantle the laws and traditions of progressive government that originated in that very state, because if they can do this in Wisconsin, they can do it anywhere. (For example, in the newly insane state of North Carolina.) One of the most important of these Wisconsin reforms was one of the toughest open-records laws that any state had.

Except maybe not so much.

The American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as ALEC, is being challenged for using Internet drop boxes and broad new assertions of privacy to shield from public view the discussions of elected officials and corporate leaders it brings together to write model legislation for state governments. In particular, the Arlington, Va.-based group has begun adding a disclaimer to documents it provides to state lawmakers contending that the material - including meeting agendas and policy proposals - isn't subject to the Wisconsin Open Records Law or similar laws in any state. Advocates for so-called sunshine laws said they couldn't see how Wisconsin lawmakers could legally withhold ALEC materials from public view. "A stamp by a private non-governmental group saying the records that it shares with lawmakers are not subject to open records laws should carry no weight," said Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council. "Absolutely none."

The evidence is that ALEC understands this basic principle as well.

Leah Vukmir, a Republican state senator from Wauwatosa, also serves as the group's national treasurer. She attended an ALEC conference in Oklahoma City in May. The center made a records request of Vukmir about a month before the conference, when ALEC typically distributes conference materials, and another request after she returned, said the Madison-based group's general counsel, Brendan Fischer. Vukmir's spokesman, Jason Booth, said he would have a comment next week. It's not clear why Vukmir hasn't turned over any meeting agendas or materials related to proposals that ALEC representatives discussed, including one sponsored by Vukmir that was passed unanimously, Fischer said. "They are a very secretive organization," Fischer said. "Their meetings are closed to the public, closed to the press, and the only way we've been able to get any information is through records requests."

Basically, ALEC is making the point that its work with legislators is not subject to the open-records law because it says that it's not. (Why ALEC has gone to such lengths to conceal what it's doing is an interesting question surely coming to a court near you.) The other point is that there is no Scott Walker, and ALEC. There is no Republican party, the conservative movement, and independent conservative organizations, think-tanks etc. It is all one movement with very defined goals. And if they can do it there, they can do it anywhere, and they're halfway home.

What ALEC-birthed monstrosity is your legislator getting ready to file?