ALEC Is in New Mexico, But Only Marginally in the Albuquerque Journal

By Denise Tessier

Because the Albuquerque Journal has the resources – a team of investigative reporters and excellent politics and government reporters – I have been waiting for the state’s leading daily to produce a story explaining how many, if any, of New Mexico’s legislators are under the influence of the American Legislative Exchange Committee.

ALEC trains state legislators and gives them boilerplate legislation to introduce in their states, furthering the national agenda of ALEC’s corporate backers. Read this story in The Nation to learn about its connection to the Koch brothers. Last week, four legislators were “outed” as supporters of this “bill mill”, but not by the Albuquerque Journal.

The four published names came courtesy of local media newcomer New Mexico Mercury, in a piece written by Pat Davis, director of ProgressNow New Mexico.

But according to the Center for Media and Democracy, the list of New Mexico supporters in the Legislature goes beyond four names. According to CMD, ALEC counts as members 13 from the New Mexico House and four from the New Mexico Senate.

ALEC Is in New Mexico, But Only Marginally in the Albuquerque Journal