Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Duke Energy silent on ALEC ties

Duke Energy isn't saying whether it's a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC, the conservative, state-level policy group that is a frequent target of the left.

The British newspaper The Guardian released internal documents last week that list Duke as a lapsed ALEC member. ALEC counts as members nearly one-third of North Carolina's Republican-led legislature, including House Speaker Thom Tillis of Cornelius, the documents show.

Duke won't confirm or deny being a member. Duke has supported ALEC's past events, including spending $50,000 to sponsor a 2012 meeting in Charlotte, and might do so again, says spokesman Tom Williams.

All six of the states in Duke's territory -- the Carolinas, Florida, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky -- have Republican-majority legislatures, Williams notes, and five have Republican governors.

"It's all about having a seat at the table as discussions are held, and sometimes supporting things and sometimes not," Williams says.

Greenpeace and other groups say Duke's status matters because of ALEC's positions on renewable energy. Among them is a proposal that, critics say, would make it more expensive for owners of rooftop solar panels to pay utilities to use the electric grid.

"Duke's customers deserve to know whether their utility stands with an organization that plans to attack homeowners in North Carolina who have installed solar panels," Greenpeace researcher Connor Gibson said by e-mail. Duke's membership would "prove," he said that the utility supports the ALEC proposal.

ALEC lost support following the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida last year for its support of "stand-your-ground" laws.

Dozens of bills introduced in the N.C. legislature this year, including measures on voter identification and private school vouchers, reflected the group's positions, Raleigh's News & Observer has reported.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Reflected" ALEC's positions?

They were ALEC's boilerplate, one-size-fits-every-state legislative dreck.

It isn't that the Democrats didn't deserve the electoral banishment they got.

It's that the GOP thoughtlessly stamped out bill after bill simply because ALEC said so. There was no consideration or discussion about whether these bills were really the right fit and best solution for North Carolina.

When you're fat, lazy and stupid-"th' cities are gettin' everthang!"-this is how you roll.

And now you can see the GOP frantically trying to backpedal on things like teacher pay.

Anonymous said...

Your post is a load of garbage 9:46, but thanks for the morning laugh.

Anonymous said...

"load of garbage"
What a thoughtful observation.

Anonymous said...

Liberals to the left of Duke, Conservatives to the right,
When they donated to the Dem National Conv the GOP was outraged, when they gave to ALEC, the Libs had a fit. Don't you all understand, it's politics!!!

Anonymous said...

Do you really want to put racism in your twang?

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