The American Legislative Exchange Council is holding its first post-Trump in-person meeting this week in Salt Lake City, Utah at the five-star Grand America Hotel.
Known for pushing bills that protect corporate interests, ALEC jumps back into culture wars to oppose teaching of systemic racism in schools.
While Trump and other Republicans attacked the 1619 Project in 2020 campaigns, right-wing think tanks and policy groups backed them up. Now GOP state lawmakers want to ban schools from teaching it.
Documents obtained by CMD show that ALEC forged a new partnership in December with radical pro-Trump group Talking Points USA, a coalition partner in the #StoptheSteal rally that led to the violent invasion at the U.S. Capitol.
After canceling its plans for an in-person meeting, ALEC opened its annual policy summit online yesterday to consider a wide variety of measures to limit governors’ power to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, stop a bailout for hard-hit states, and lock in a nine-member Supreme Court, provide trainings to help its overwhelmingly Republican members run better campaigns.
The preferred funding conduits of the Koch political donor network gave out $165 million in grants in 2019, $90 million of which went to right-wing think tanks, advocacy groups, litigation centers, media outlets, extremists, and climate deniers.
IRS filings obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy show that the Charles Koch Foundation gave $141 million to universities and colleges, right-wing organizations, and other causes in 2019.
Five right-wing funders provided 83 percent of the traceable cash between 2014-2019 for the group’s efforts to crush public employee unions, question climate science, undermine the Affordable Care Act, and privatize schools.
Bankrolled by anti-labor billionaires, the Job Creators Network is using its push for schools to reopen quickly as a wedge issue to attack teachers unions.
The American Legislative Exchange Council holds its Annual Meeting virtually over the next two weeks after its original location, Florida, became the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.
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