Brown Bag Lunch #4: ALEC & Louisiana

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has a link featured on the front page of the Louisiana Legislature's website. It's been there so long that the image is not even the current logo of the organization.

ALEC's influence on Louisiana and other state legislatures has soared into the national spotlight in recent weeks, as evidence of a significant number of ALEC-written bills becoming law across the country have garnered public attention.

The April 12 Brown Bag Lunch #4 focused on ALEC's role in Louisiana. Tom Aswell of Louisianavoice.com and consultant and political observer Don Whittinghill spoke at the event. Both outlined the extensive but mostly hidden influence the organization has had and is having in the current legislative session.

First, Tom Aswell tracked the money from Governor Jindal and ALEC to members of the House and Senate retirement committees in this segment of his presentation.



Next, Aswell discusses his recent findings indicating that members of the Louisiana Legislature might have double dipped on expense reimbursements resulting from their attendance at the 2011 ALEC conference in New Orleans.



Here's Don Whittingthill's talk on the ALEC connection to the changes in public education bring pushed by the Jindal Administration. Mr. Whittinghill focuses on the two companies involved in the Louisiana Virtual Charter Academy and their ties to ALEC.