Dear Legislators and Partners,

Together, we’ve worked side-by-side with you and thousands of allies to meet one of the great challenges of our generation: to find and nurture progressive leaders who can make America all that our Founding Fathers imagined, all that it can be, and all that our children deserve.

We’ve made long strides on our shared journey, from Progressive States Network’s (PSN) launch in 2006 to the debut of the American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange (ALICE) nearly two years ago. Yet, the movement has lacked a unified strategic approach to supporting legislators and advancing issues of importance to progressives in the states.

Today, with the support of organized labor, issue advocacy groups, legislators and others across the spectrum of the progressive movement we are announcing a merger between ALICE and PSN. This merger will consolidate the collective resources, relationships and intellectual power of both organizations towards building a more cohesive, efficient and vibrant support system for progressive legislators and partner organizations across the country.

For nearly a generation, conservatives have outpaced us at the business of movement-building in states. They have focused hard on it, poured resources into it, and have been ruthlessly efficient at it. Starting now, we will do the same.

ALICE’s Executive Director, Nick Rathod, will lead this new effort. His deep political and policy experience leading groundbreaking campaigns to pass gun safety legislation in the states, and his service in senior roles in the Obama White House, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and at the Center for American Progress have given him the perfect tools to succeed in this new role.

Over the course of the next several months, Nick and members of the PSN board plan to engage in conversations with legislators, stakeholder organizations, donors and others to make sure that the new organization is built to be responsive to the needs of state legislators. They will also work to build a political infrastructure across the country to support a proactive progressive state legislative strategy.

Our official launch will likely be in the fall, so stay tuned for more details. We’ll also keep you up-to-date about plans for a legislative retreat this fall.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Nick at nick@project-six.org.



Onward,

Nick Rathod
Executive Director, ALICE



Sen. Joe Bolkcom
Board Chair, Progressive States Network

ALEC remains the ubiquitous conservative puppet-master; its fingerprints and that of its most well-known supporters (the Koch brothers, Exxon Mobil, Pfizer, AT&T, etc.) can be found all over right-wing legislation that has made its way through the state and local legislative process. To understand the magnitude of its influence, consider that of the more than 100 bills introduced between 2011 and 2013 to repeal or weaken minimum wage laws, 67 of them related back to ALEC. And in 2009, 115 of ALEC’s 826 model bills were enacted into law.

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Recently, the American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange and the Progressive States Network announced a merger to build an organization that will be focused on moving a progressive policy agenda in the states. While the goals of the new undertaking may resemble those of ALEC, their methods are vastly different. They will operate transparently, use no lobbyists, and make their model legislation and resources available to everyone; their database already showcases 1,800 examples of progressive legislation. And they will engage with people, not corporations.

The timing for this endeavor could not be better. As Nick Rathod, who is charged with building the new organization as its executive director, puts it, “Progressives need to look to the states to move [their] agenda because Washington is effectively broken. For example, in the 2012 election cycle, progressives believed we had ‘won’ by maintaining the U.S. Senate and the White House. But 18 months later, we have no hope of immigration reform, background checks for gun purchases or even addressing climate change in a comprehensive way.”

While Congress has dithered on heeding President Obama’s call to raise the minimum wage, 10 states and the District of Columbia have already passed their own increases this year. With Washington at a standstill, state and local legislatures are becoming the laboratories of progressive expansion.

5. ”Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.” ~ Rush Limbaugh

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7. “Good Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions.” ~ Jerry Falwell

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14. “Trees cause more pollution than automobiles.” ~ Ronald Reagan

19. ”Well, I learned a lot….I went down to (Latin America) to find out from them and (learn) their views. You’d be surprised. They’re all individual countries.” ~ Ronald Reagan