Kendall: Businesses should cut ties with union-busting lobbyists

When then-Gov. Mitch Daniels signed Indiana’s “right to work” law in 2012, he and other supporters promised it would protect workers and benefit Indiana’s economy.

But Right to Work is not an Indiana idea. And rather than protecting workers, the law is undermining labor unions and helping employers drive down wages and benefits. That’s no accident — much of the text was copied and pasted straight from a “model” bill in the library of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a secretive lobbying group that does the bidding of some of the country’s largest corporations and has made union-busting a top priority.

More than four years after Right to Work was signed into law, ALEC is coming to Indianapolis for its annual meeting. Legislators from across the country and corporate lobbyists will sit together behind closed doors to consider model legislation that seeks to undermine clean air and clean water laws, cut funding for our public schools, and limit the ability of workers to bargain for better wages and working conditions.

Most all of this will be done in secret. ALEC closes policy discussions where public officials hear from AT&T, ExxonMobil, UPS, Pfizer and other lobbyists. In the past, journalists seeking to cover these meetings have been escorted out by armed guards.

ALEC meetings also feature off-agenda parties and dinners, with multicourse meals and free-flowing liquor — all hidden from the public. Although ALEC tries stay under the radar, this year’s conference is set to make national news as Gov. Mike Pence, the 2016 Republican vice presidential candidate, is set to speak.

Whether it be the Koch brothers, big oil, tobacco or any other corporate interest, ALEC has been corporate America’s go to resource to get business-friendly legislation in the hands of state legislators since the 1970s.

While ALEC’s lobbying activities are well documented, it is registered as a charity rather than a lobbying group. ALEC’s IRS status gives its member corporations a tax write-off for the thousands of dollars they give to ALEC. Common Cause has filed a whistle-blower complaint with the IRS against ALEC, charging the organization with tax fraud and asking that the corporations pay any taxes they were able to avoid through their involvement in ALEC.

ALEC is representative of a larger problem in our democracy: the silencing of everyday Americans by well-financed special interests. While politicians and lobbyists meet in secret to create laws that largely benefit the wealthiest and largest corporations, 99-plus percent of Hoosiers are just trying to make ends met. While big oil and coal companies pay for a seat at the table at ALEC meetings, voters worry about the future of our planet as we feel more of the effects of climate change. While Pfizer and other big pharmaceutical companies buy lawmakers late-night cocktails at the ALEC hotel bar, millions of Americans struggle to pay for the drugs those companies are creating.

On the bright side, activists are blowing ALEC’s cover. No matter where ALEC meets these days, from southern California to Indianapolis, its conferences attract protests and demonstrators. And ALEC-member companies are noticing. Since 2011, more than 100 major corporations —including Google, Coca-Cola, Microsoft and General Motors — have cut ties with ALEC. Indiana’s own Eli Lilly and Co. would do well to follow their example, as would any other businesses and legislators who believe democracy should work for everyone, not just a select few.

Kendall, an Indianapolis resident, serves on the board of Common Cause Indiana. He served in the Indiana Senate from 1978-82.