We now know about how GOP Super Donors Koch Brothers have enlisted the services of American Legislative Exchange Council(ALEC) in their efforts to change the U.S. Constitution. ALEC essentially comprises wealthy corporate lobbyists who influence State GOP lawmakers into passing their(ALEC’s) preferred pieces of legislation. As Yours Truly pointed out in an earlier post, often times ALEC just hands down bills written by their lobbyists to State GOP legislators for passage “as-is”–a flagrant subversion of our democratic process.
Most of the voting public is unaware of this travesty surrounding ALEC and State GOP lawmakers thanks in large part to the hapless Mainstream Media. It is clear however that if the public were to find out that they elect state representatives only for them to be taken over by ALEC when they reach State Capitols, there would be bipartisan outrage(both Democrats and Republicans). Well it turns out that ALEC is fully aware that its activities would enrage a lot of Texas voters in particular so much so that in 2013 they asked then Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to make them immune from Texas’ Open Records Laws.
Think about that folks, ALEC has so much conscience of guilt about its activities, that it wanted AG Abbott to keep its communications with Texas legislators secret. Even more troubling is that a Texas House Rep Stephanie Klick (Rep-Fort Worth) actually fought to keep her communications with ALEC secret. She argued that her communications with ALEC should be kept secret citing the “deliberative process” exemption to Texas’ Open Records Laws.
Government corruption watchdog Center for Media and Democracy wrote a letter to then Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott challenging ALEC’s and Rep Klick’s stances that their communications should be exempt from Texas Open Records laws. Now Yours Truly is not an attorney and so is not in a position to assess the merits or demerits of Texas Rep Klick’s “deliberative process” argument. However just from a public optics standpoint, it looks very bad that here you have an elected State Rep who appears intent on going around Texas’ open records laws to keep secret her interaction with lobbyists. It reeks of corruption whichever way one slices it and goes against the spirit of Texas’ sunshine-in-government laws.
Texas State Rep Klick is running for re-election this November. Her Dem challenger for Texas House District 91, Jeromey Sims must confront her on her ALEC stance. Specifically he should call on her to release her communications with ALEC that she sought to keep secret, if she hasn’t done so already. Regardless of whether she ended up releasing the documents or not, the Dem challenger should confront her for her demonstrated hostility towards Texas’ Open Records Laws. Simply put, any Texas politician who does not favor Texas’ Open Records Laws has no business being in the State Capitol.
Bottomline, as we approach Midterms 2018, Texas Dems must expose this corrupt affair between Koch outfit ALEC and the Texas GOP.
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You may reach the author via email at author@grassrootsdempolitics.com or author@emolumentsclause.com