"ALEC saw a golden opportunity with the economic downturn of 2008 & the rise of tea party sentiments

[highplainsdem]

among voters."

That quote is from a 3-page article by Bill Cotterell of the Tallahassee Democrat's Florida Capital Bureau:

http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20110417/NEWS01/104170319

Privatization vs. protection of state workers a longtime debate
JOBS 2011

By Bill Cotterell • Florida Capital Bureau • Published: April 17. 2011 2:00AM


-snip-

The partisan divide between Democrats, defending liberal labor unions, and Republicans, whose pro-business sentiments won them control of state government, is as stark as the difference between the Depression era when the employment system was born and the tea party climate prevalent in the Legislature today.

-snip-

Ron Meyer, an attorney who covered the 1968 teachers strike as a Tampa television reporter, said the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council is calling the shots. Meyer, who lobbies for the Florida Education Association, said ALEC saw a golden opportunity with the economic downturn of 2008 and the rise of tea party sentiments among voters.

But, unlike Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and other states where new Republican governors are at sword's point with public employees, Florida does not have strong unions. Meyer said it's all politics.

"I see this being superimposed upon Florida by ALEC, not because there's a problem with public employees bargaining and participating in the process," he said. "This is part of a bigger agenda."

-snip-

Cotterell quoted Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon denying that.

But Cannon is almost certainly an ALEC member, and in fact ALEC's "State Legislators Guide to Repealing ObamaCare" refers to Cannon sending then-Governor Crist a cease-and-desist letter calling for a halt to implementation of federal health care reform.

I'm glad Cotterell is writing about ALEC's role.