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Health & Fitness

Anielski Should Resign from Controversial, Secretive Organization

It’s time for State Representative Marlene Anielski to follow the lead of others in her party and immediately resign from the controversial, right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

ALEC, a non-profit policy group funded almost exclusively by some of the country's largest corporations (such as ExxonMobile, American Electric Power, Philip Morris, and Dow Chemical), is best known for drafting over 1000 "model" pieces of legislation behind closed doors, which politicians, like Anielski, can introduce in their home states.

In recent years, ALEC legislative initiatives have included "stand your ground," privatizing schools, suppressing voter rights, weakening environmental pollution safeguards, and stripping worker rights (as seen in SB5 in 2011). These initiatives have been the cornerstones of an extreme wing of the Republican Party.

With vocal opposition from citizens across the country growing daily, dozens of corporations and hundreds of legislators have walked away from the secretive group in the last year. As membership has declined in the organization, ALEC has proposed that some members take a loyalty oath, stating that “I will act with care and loyalty and put the interests of the organization first.”

I believe residents of the 6th House District deserve to know that their elected representative's loyalty is to serving the people of this state and district — not to the interests of an extreme organization that works largely in the shadows.

This week, as Tea Party leader Ted Cruz addresses ALEC at its annual policy meeting in Washington, I call on Representative Marlene Anielski to join the hundreds of other legislators from across the country who have walked away from ALEC and their extremist agenda over the past two years.

Ohio has fallen to 44th in the nation in job creation. Now is the time to shift the focus from the fringe and bring it back to helping the middle class by improving our schools, strengthening our communities, and creating a strong climate for small businesses to thrive.

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