Elsa Schafer
March 29, 2015
ALEC was initially founded in the 1970’s as a secret entity based in Washington, D.C. with legislators and corporate members who wrote legislative bills on behalf of corporate interests in exchange for election campaign funding. Over 2,000 companies have joined, writing legislation to: privatize public schools and prisons, weaken voting rights, eviscerate clean air, clean water and other environmental laws, cripple public worker unions and endanger public safety.In 2011, Common Cause helped shine a spotlight on ALEC and its activities, and Common Cause and a coalition of organizations have pressured companies to drop their memberships in ALEC. Elsa Schafer is a progressive activist (Democracy for America and Common Cause) who has long fought for publicly funded elections, while maintaining her day job working on healthcare reform.
Humanist Community Forum (2015-03-29): ALEC–Buying Our State Legislative System on Behalf of Corporate Interests (Elsa Schafer from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.