Archive for May 1, 2012
East Mountain Representative Smith Reveals Sordid ALEC Past
by John Weckerle
Our readers know that, given our relative disinclination toward hyperbole, the word “sordid” is not one we make a habit of using. In fact, until now, we have never used it – and as of now, we can say we have used it only twice, both in the same article, but never seriously.
In response to our first ALEC and Us article on New Mexico legislators involved with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and a follow-up inquiry, State Representative Jim Smith provided a prompt (last Monday) response disclosing his sinister past with ALEC – or, more accurately, the lack thereof. Mr. Smith indicated that his involvement with the organization was limited attendance at an ALEC-sponsored dinner in Santa Fe, at which many lawmakers from both sides of the aisle were present. The dinner was interrupted by the Occupy movement, and Mr. Smith recalled that “a couple of members spoke briefly about being pro-business” but no legislative agenda was discussed.
Mr. Smith indicated: “Although I do attend a lot of meetings sponsored by various groups, I don’t actually join many, if any, of them.” This sounds like good policy for a legislator, and we’re glad to see it operative in this situation.
State Senator Sue Wilson-Beffort, to whom we sent essentially the same e-mail message as Mr. Smith, has not yet replied. If a response is not forthcoming soon, then perhaps research will substitute. We’ll keep our readers posted.