Annotated Bibliography

Underwood, Julie, and Julie F. Mead. "A Smart ALEC Threatens Public Education." Phi Delta Kappan. PDK International, 20 Feb. 2012. Web. 8 Mar. 2012. <http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/93/6/51.full>.

This article talks about Alec and the affects it had on education, state legislators, money, free markets, and many more. It is a liberal leaning article so it doesn’t shed ALEC in a very good light. It also talks about ALEC in different states including Tennessee Arizona, Indiana, Georgia, Louisiana, and Wisconsin. It goes very in depth about education including collective bargaining and privatization of schools in the US. They want to privatize education through vouchers, charter schools, and tax incentives. Another effect they will have on education is they want to have more student testing and student competition. They are big supporters of the No Child Left Behind Act. They also want to lessen the influence of school boards and school districts through several different acts. It also goes on to talk about ALECs influence in states and how strong it is.

"ALECWATCH." ALECWATCH. Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

            Web. 08 Mar. 2012. <http://alecwatch.org/index.html>.

            This is online book called ALEC watch. There are not very many books on ALEC and this one is one of the few. This book is more liberal leaning in opinion so it is against ALEC and it shows the bad sides of ALEC. This article talks about the history, finances, and activities of the American Legislative Exchange Council. They say that ALEC is just front so corporations can funnel money through it to get what they want from legislators. It talks about all of the laws that were made in their think tanks and are now cropping up around all of these conservative ran states. Some of the laws include Collective bargaining and Voter ID and both of these have shown up in Wisconsin.

"History." ALEC. American Legislative Exchange Council. Web. 8 Mar. 2012.

<http://www.alec.org/about-alec/history/>.

            This article talks about the history of ALEC and what ALEC stands for when it comes to views.  Their “slogan” for their council is Limited Government, Free Markets, Federalism. They describe themselves as a nonpartisan membership association for conservative state lawmakers who shared a common belief in limited government, free markets, federalism, and individual liberty. This article is straight from ALECs website and so it is more conservative leaning in opinion. Then they go on to talk about the birth of their task forces. They were created in 1981. They also talk about their clearinghouses to think tanks. The last part of the article talks about ALEC’s formula for success.