This week in: ALEC and the Arizona Legislature

by David Safier

This week was the kickoff of what I hope will be an ongoing series, ALEC and the Arizona Legislature. Lisa Hoffman has been busy compiling Arizona legislation and resolutions which began as ALEC models and adding background information. I've been searching out more information and working the material into what I hope are coherent posts.

I've put together three-and-a-half posts on the topic this week. First, the three whole posts:

• ALEC and the Arizona legislature: State Sovereignty
• ALEC and the Arizona legislature: Eminent Domain
• ALEC and the Arizona legislature: For-Profit Colleges

The half post is really more about the nativist overreach of our AZ Department of Ed (in keeping with our general governmental overreach in that area), but I threw in a piece of ALEC model legislation which is in the same "Fear the Other" ballpark.

In "No Nativism to see here, folks" news

It's important to understand the extent to which our Republican legislators are dependent on predigested conservative ideology and corporate interests to create the legislation they claim as their own. There's no place it's clearer than in the ALEC/AZ connection.

I have more comparisons in the hopper, some of which will go up next week. Meanwhile, if any of you knowledgeable folks can help Lisa and me out with some leads, please feel free to put your ideas in the comments section or email them to me at safier@schooltales.net.