The American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC, has put the Kibosh on Utah's raging progressive movement's attempt to hold a simultaneous event during ALEC's 39th Convention in Salt Lake City at the end of July. You know, Utah, that bastion of liberalism?
An attempt to rent space in the same hotel as ALEC ran contrary to ALEC's idea of proper decorum, I guess.
It is interesting to note that the the L in ALEC does stand for Legislative. That would be the governing body comprised of people elected by The People to do The People's Business. But The People are officially not invited. ALEC keeps in its hotel contract the power to chose who does and does not get to rent space during an ALEC Convention. They must fear someone might shine too much light in their direction. Do you know who else scurries away from a little light? Cockroaches. Cockroaches, unlike ALEC, are actually quite useful to the working men and women of America. A quality rubber cockroach can be deployed during a meal at a restaurant to quickly settle the bill in your favor.
Utah may not be the welcoming destination point the Council had hoped. School Vouchers, a pet project of ALEC, was passed in Utah in the 2007 Legislative Sessions. It was so unpopular among Utahns that it was repealed via referendum that November.
In 2011, a bill (HB477) limiting the ability of citizens and the media to access government records created such an uproar that it was repealed after a mere two weeks of public fury.
In this year's Utah Legislative session, a bill banning sex-ed in public schools again ignited the scorn of the general population, and languished on Governor Herbert's desk, only to be vetoed as soon as the state's delegate selecting caucuses were settled in a decidedly non-Tea Party way. While Senator Hatch, the intended target of Tea Party agents, is no wine sipping liberal, he's no tea drinker either (his LDS religion eschews both alcohol and caffeine.) Having seen Hatch's moderates carry the day, the Governor immediately vetoed the bill, much to the dismay of our ultra-conservative Eagle Forum.
No, ALEC has chosen to visit Utah at a weird time for us, politically. As a state we may trend heavily conservative in our voting records, Salt Lake City itself is a stubborn little enclave of progressive folks. Our Mayors are Liberal. Our gays are gayer. We pride ourselves on really good local beers (too many to link to, trust me, you can't go wrong.) And ALEC is coming to our town. But they don't want to have anything to do with us. And, ironically, we've sent most of their darlings packing in our latest GOP Convention.
So, I guess we'll just have to exercise our constitutional rights and go downtown to make a little noise.
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