Shadowy left wing groups attack conservatives

CJ Ciaramella:

The progressive groups leveling charges that the American Legislative Exchange Conference (ALEC) is “shadowy” and “nefarious” rely on hidden donors and overheated rhetoric to attack ALEC and ignore similar activities by liberal organizations.

ALEC crafts model legislation for state legislatures. Progressive groups are attempting to silence ALEC using “Jesse Jackson tactics” because of its free-market positions, said Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Bill Howell.

“The concern is that these groups are using intimidation and trying to break ALEC,” Howell said. “What they’re trying to do is muzzle ALEC by taking away its source of money.”

Liberal watchdogs have propagated the myth that ALEC stands alone as a drafter of model legislation.

ProPublica, an investigative news organization funded partly by George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, claimed in a 2011 article, “ALEC has no real counterpart on the left.”

However, there are myriad groups that craft model legislation for states. Some of them even have the same corporate backers as ALEC.

One explicitly liberal group that pushes model legislation is the Progressive States Network. In 2009, the Soros Fund made a grant of $300,000 to the organization. In 2010, members of the Progressive States Network Board included Wes Boyd, President and co-founder of MoveOn.org; David Brock, President and CEO of Media Matters for America; and John Podesta, President and CEO, the Center for American Progress.

The Progressive States Network’s mission is to “engage and build the capacity of state and national leaders to advance public policy solutions that uphold America’s promise to be a just and equitable democracy.”

It pushes legislation such as anti-smoking measures and provides talking points to legislators opposing laws on illegal immigration.

“We don’t publish our funders,” Progressive States Network communication director Charles Monaco told the Free Beacon. “That’s not material we make public on our website.”

Another new group has also been formed—the American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange (ALICE), which Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel called the “centerpiece” of a growing progressive legislative pushback against ALEC. ALICE would offer model laws “based on the values of equity, sustainability, and responsible government.”

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Groups dedicated to the evils of liberalism must be defeated.  We must also stand up to their thuggish  attacks on conservative groups.  They are trying to defund conservatism by pushing secondary boycotts.  Since there are more conservatives than liberals this is a very dangerous tactic on their part, and one companies should keep in mind if they bend to the threats.