To: Paul S. Cosgrove, ALEC Private State Chair for OR, The Oregon State House, The Oregon State Senate, and Governor Kate Brown
Oregon State Legislators: Serve Oregonians not ALEC Corporations!
The undersigned Oregonians demand that those Oregon legislators who are currently associates of ALEC resign from this organization. Resignation from ALEC will entail notice of resignation to ALEC, refusal of any ALEC scholarship funds or gifts, no attendance at ALEC conferences or meetings, and refusal to cosponsor ALEC model bills. Make Oregon proud and join the twenty-eight state legislators nationwide who have renounced their association with ALEC.
Furthermore, the undersigned Oregonians demand that those who are not current ALEC associates also refuse any ALEC scholarship funds or gifts, not attend any ALEC conferences or meetings, and refuse to cosponsor ALEC model bills.
Furthermore, the undersigned Oregonians demand that those who are not current ALEC associates also refuse any ALEC scholarship funds or gifts, not attend any ALEC conferences or meetings, and refuse to cosponsor ALEC model bills.
Why is this important?
Oregonians deserve true representation of their needs by all the legislators they elect to the Oregon Legislature. Eighteen Oregon Republican Representatives and Senators are associates of the powerful and secretive American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) which claims to be a nonpartisan charity yet lobbies for the interests of large corporations rather than the public interests of Oregon citizens who elected them to office.
The subterfuge under which ALEC operates has been challenged by Common Cause, which filed a complaint in April with the IRS, charging that ALEC is a lobbyist organization rather than a charity and misuses charity laws, extensively under-reports lobbying, and improperly obtains tax breaks for political donations by ALEC’s corporate funders to state candidates, ballot measures, leadership, and other political committees, funneling millions of dollars into Oregon in order to skew the Oregon political process.
The ALEC agenda seeks to remove federal and state environmental regulations, repeal the federal health care reform law, dump state minimum wage laws, and bust unions. What the ALEC agenda does espouse is taxpayer support of public subsidies for private schools, privatization of prisons/detention centers coupled with support for Draconian immigration laws to provide profits for the private corrections industry, and restrictions on voting rights which discriminately disenfranchise people of color, senior citizens, students, and the poor.
Oregonians have the right to expect that their interests will be served by their elected officials without the interference of undue monetary and philosophical influence of out-of-state mega-corporations.
The following Oregon elected officials who hold current ALEC affiliations have been identified using three resources: Oregon’s campaign finance database ORESTAR, The Oregonian, and analysis by the Center for Media and Democracy at ALEC Exposed (http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed). (Those legislators who contact this petition framer to report that they are not current associates of ALEC will be removed from this list. Updated as of November 17, 2012.):
Oregon Senator Larry George, R-Sherwood
Oregon Senator Fred Girod, R-Stayton
Oregon Senator Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day
Oregon Representative Sal Esquivel, R-Medford
Oregon Representative Tim Freeman, R-Roseburg
Oregon Representative Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer
Oregon Representative Gene Whisnant, R-Sunriver
Oregon Representative Bruce Hanna, R-Roseburg
Oregon Representative Jason Conger, R-Bend
Oregon Representative Mark Johnson, R-Hood River
Oregon Representative Dennis Richardson, R-Central Point
Oregon Representative Sherrie Sprenger, R-Scio
Oregon Representative Jim Thompson, R-Dallas
Oregon Representative Kevin Cameron, R-Salem
Oregon Representative Wally Hicks, R-Grants Pass
Oregon Representative John Huffman, R-The Dalles
Oregon Representative Bill Kennemer, R-Oregon City
Oregon Representative Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte
The subterfuge under which ALEC operates has been challenged by Common Cause, which filed a complaint in April with the IRS, charging that ALEC is a lobbyist organization rather than a charity and misuses charity laws, extensively under-reports lobbying, and improperly obtains tax breaks for political donations by ALEC’s corporate funders to state candidates, ballot measures, leadership, and other political committees, funneling millions of dollars into Oregon in order to skew the Oregon political process.
The ALEC agenda seeks to remove federal and state environmental regulations, repeal the federal health care reform law, dump state minimum wage laws, and bust unions. What the ALEC agenda does espouse is taxpayer support of public subsidies for private schools, privatization of prisons/detention centers coupled with support for Draconian immigration laws to provide profits for the private corrections industry, and restrictions on voting rights which discriminately disenfranchise people of color, senior citizens, students, and the poor.
Oregonians have the right to expect that their interests will be served by their elected officials without the interference of undue monetary and philosophical influence of out-of-state mega-corporations.
The following Oregon elected officials who hold current ALEC affiliations have been identified using three resources: Oregon’s campaign finance database ORESTAR, The Oregonian, and analysis by the Center for Media and Democracy at ALEC Exposed (http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed). (Those legislators who contact this petition framer to report that they are not current associates of ALEC will be removed from this list. Updated as of November 17, 2012.):
Oregon Senator Larry George, R-Sherwood
Oregon Senator Fred Girod, R-Stayton
Oregon Senator Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day
Oregon Representative Sal Esquivel, R-Medford
Oregon Representative Tim Freeman, R-Roseburg
Oregon Representative Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer
Oregon Representative Gene Whisnant, R-Sunriver
Oregon Representative Bruce Hanna, R-Roseburg
Oregon Representative Jason Conger, R-Bend
Oregon Representative Mark Johnson, R-Hood River
Oregon Representative Dennis Richardson, R-Central Point
Oregon Representative Sherrie Sprenger, R-Scio
Oregon Representative Jim Thompson, R-Dallas
Oregon Representative Kevin Cameron, R-Salem
Oregon Representative Wally Hicks, R-Grants Pass
Oregon Representative John Huffman, R-The Dalles
Oregon Representative Bill Kennemer, R-Oregon City
Oregon Representative Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte