Yesterday, community leaders held a press conference in Columbus, Ohio to expose the firm grip that corporations hold on the Ohio legislature made possible by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Through this organization, corporations and special interests sit down with complicit lawmakers and devise ways to transfer the public’s resources into a few private hands, while leaving ordinary citizens out to dry.

This effort is underway in statehouses across the country, and a new report by People For the American Way Foundation, Progress Ohio, Common Cause and the Center for Media and Democracy demonstrates the pervasive influence and serious consequences that ALEC has had in Ohio.

At the press conference, people affected by ALEC-sponsored legislation – including teachers, religious leaders and labor representatives – described how their classrooms are being defunded, their fellow citizens are being denied their right to vote and their workplace protections are being dismantled thanks to ALEC, Ohio’s governor and legislators who are willing to put corporate profits over the people’s needs.

The report is available here.

 

From left: Tim Burga, President, AFL-CIO; Pat Clifford, State Organizer for Ohio Common Cause; Rev. Joel King, Unity Coalition; Ltaundra Everhart, High School Teacher; Tim Shafer, Operations Director, OCSEA AFSCME Local 11, former Corrections Officer.

From left: David Romick, Dayton Education Association; Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director, Progress Ohio; Rev. Joel King, Unity Coalition; Ltaundra Everhart, High School Teacher; Tim Shafer, Operations Director, OCSEA AFSCME Local 11, former Corrections Officer.