Policy Peddlers
The impact on your community and job may be greater than you think

Would you give your vote to a candidate for public office who told you point blank that they think the work you do is a waste of money?

Probably not. So it might surprise you to know that there are nearly 1,300 state lawmakers who have pledged to “oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes,” which of course provide the monies needed for public services.

Sadly, this pledge of allegiance hasn’t been made to constituents. Instead, it’s been given to the so-called Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), a Washington, D.C.-based organization led by Grover Norquist.

In addition to enlisting state lawmakers in his anti-tax, anti-government campaign, Norquist boasts that President George Bush, 46 U.S. senators and 222 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed a similar pledge against taxes at the federal level.

Norquist, widely known around the nation’s capital and in state legislatures as an anti-tax crusader, is more than that. He is one of the Bush administration’s off-Capitol Hill point people. He is Karl Rove’s “Mini Me.”

With his official unofficial status, he can make public statements that no elected official, much less a U.S. president, dare say. For example, when Colorado Republican Gov. Bill Owens reversed course and supported a ballot initiative to temporarily suspend the state’s so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights (see December 2005/January 2006 Public Employee Advocate for story), Norquist declared that “one definite outcome [of the measure’s passage] is the political death of Gov. Owens.”

Rep. Tom DeLay may have been the Republican Party’s “hammer” in the U.S. House of Representatives, but Norquist is the bully.

ATR and friends working to ‘drown’ government
“I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub,” says Norquist.

It’s a goal he hopes to achieve by 2025 through tax policy with the help of his network, which is made up of elected officials, members of their staffs and representatives from other organizations that share the same agenda: the dismantling of public services.

“Every Wednesday morning, about a hundred conservative activists gather in the offices of Americans for Tax Reform. If you believe in a vast, right-wing conspiracy, this is its clubhouse. ...and these days there is always a representative from the Bush White House,” National Public Radio correspondent Mara Liasson reported in May 2001.

In December 2005, Norquist told radio talk show host Charlie Rose that in addition to the weekly Washington meeting, there are 41 state capital versions, which take place usually once a week or once a month.

Among Norquist’s “short list” of budget ‘alternatives’ to taxes: outsource public employee jobs to the private sector; reallocate all state pensions from defined-benefit plans to defined-contribution systems; move state employees to health savings accounts as the vehicle for their health insurance; freeze state hiring and consolidate state agencies.

‘The power to tax is the power to destroy’
While ATR is very public about its recruitment of elected officials, as well as those with aspirations for public office, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is much more coy about its troops, a reported 2,400 state lawmakers. And for good reason. ALEC is predominantly funded by corporate interests.

Although much of the organization’s information is password-
protected for members only, visitors to ALEC’s Web site
(www.alec.org) can get a sufficient glimpse into its priorities, which largely mirror ATR’s and the Bush administration’s agenda: tax cuts and TABOR-style budget and funding restrictions; limited employer-provided health insurance; wholesale privatization of government programs and services from Medicaid to public education; and elimination of defined-benefit pension plans.

ALEC attempts to achieve its legislative priorities by providing sitting state lawmakers with draft legislation that they can introduce in their states. It’s a service that is particularly handy for those lawmakers who serve in their legislatures on a part-time basis—and don’t have a staff working the issues and keeping them connected to constituent views.

“Unique to ALEC task forces is their public-private partnerships, a synergistic alliance that identifies issues and then responds with common sense, results-oriented policies,” according to the group’s Web site. “Legislators welcome their private sector counterparts to the table as equals, working in unison to solve the challenges facing the nation. The results are the policies that will define the American political landscape well into the 21st century.”

In June 2000, when ALEC member Ray Haynes, a California state senator, testified before a House subcommittee against taxation of e-commerce, he summed up ALEC’s so-called common sense, results-oriented policies: “At ALEC,” he said, “we take seriously the adage ‘the power to tax is the power to destroy.’”

AFT leaders to members: Know where your elected officials stand
It’s the AFT’s representational duty to engage in political and legislative action—and education. After all, elected officials, including the nearly 1,300 state lawmakers who have signed ATR’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” (see related story on this page) and the 2,400 who get “model” legislation from ALEC, drive policy that affects your work—and your livelihood.

This election year, members of AFT Public Employees owe it to themselves to know who they are voting for: candidates with allegiance to a national organization, such as ATR or ALEC, or candidates who value public services and make reasoned decisions based on the well being of their constituents and the needs of their communities and states.