When is Senator Harsdorf going to openly speak about her activities with ALEC and which committees she is involved in with ALEC?

How many ALEC written bills has Harsdorf introduced? How many ALEC written bills has Harsdorf voted in favor of?

Why doesn't Harsdorf let her constituents know about her ALEC-related activities? Is it perhaps that she is ashamed of her ALEC involvement?

Perhaps the local media, Patch and the HSO might want to meet with Harsdorf to find out the answers to the above questions. It is of local interest as our local representatives are participating in an organization which writes and distributes model legislation.

In the interests of transparency the public should know what Senator Harsdorf and Assemblyman Knudson are doing in the shadowy ALEC organization.

FYI, Moyers & Company presents a report on the American Legislative Council (ALEC) at http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-united-states-of-alec/

This report included an interactive map that helps make clear any state legislator's involvement with ALEC at http://billmoyers.com/content/interactive-map-is-your-state-legislator-a-member-of-alec/

The technical college and university committee chair--hmmmm...this should work well considering that Sheila voted to cut 1.6 billion dollars from education in the state of Wisconsin and they want skilled workers--it takes a good sound education to produce skilled workers which takes dollars to make it all work.

Actually where I live the revenue has gone down steadily every year for 30+ years and we are learning to do more with less thanks to dedicated teachers and administrators.

@Mainstreet...the SEIU (a union representing people (human beings) is quite different from ALEC (a lobbying organization representing corporations). Oh wait, I forgot "Corporations are people, my friend"; as stated by losing presidential candidate Willard "Mitt" Romoney.

Neither Harsdorf or Knudson ever speak openly and proudly about their involvement with ALEC. I wonder why? Shouldn't they be telling their constituents what they "learned" at the closed ALEC events? Or saying, I'm introducing this excellent bill to make it more difficult for people to vote which I picked up at the recent secret ALEC conference.

@Carbon Bigfuut... here is a link showing that both Knudson and Harsdorf or connected with ALEC.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wisconsin_ALEC_Politicians

Now, if you would be so kind as to post a statement or two from either Harsdorf or Knudson (or both) where they openly talk about their ALEC experiences.

If ALEC is such a fine organization why do the TEAPublicans not brag about what they learn from ALEC? Why don't they say, "I'm introducing a great bill that I got from my recent ALEC conference (which was paid for by Altria and Monsanto) which will be introduced simultaneously in 15 other state legilatures"?

Are they ashamed of their involvement in ALEC?

@Carbon Bigfuut...ALEC is not a "focus group". It has a paid staff of at least 30 people. Some of the funders of ALEC are The Bradley Foundation, the Castle Rock Foundation (Coors), Alleghany Foundation (Scaife family), and other similar foundations. Corporate members on the Board are companies such as Kraft, Exxon Mobil, Altria, Coca Cola, Johnson & Johnson, and GlaxoSmithKline.

Corporate members that provide nearly 98% of ALEC's operating expenses are AT&T, Altria, Diageo, Energy Future Holdings, State Farm Insurance, UPS, Wallmart, IBM, Koch Industries, Peabody Energy, Pfizer, PhRMA, Reynolds American, Monsanto, and Bayer. There are many more similar corporate sponsors.

The purpose of ALEC is to provide corporations with an organizat to draft model bills that favor the interests of those corporations. These bills are then handed to state legislators such as Sheila Harsdorf and Dean Knudson to bring back home and introduce into the Legislature.

So CB, do you not question this highly secretive (no press allowed at conferencess) organization being able to write our laws? Is that not what Harsdorf and Knudson were elected and paid to do? Does it not bother you that 3M and other corporations pay people to write laws that "rubber stamp" legislators push through the legislature with little or no discussion or input from the citizens of Wisconsin?

Again, why do Knudson and Harsdorf not tout their membership in ALEC?

@Chadwick... ever hear of inflation? Ever hear of population growth?
$228,000,000,000 in 1970 is equal to $1,359,285,460,000,000 in 2012, so $583,000,000,000 is equal to a 67% reduction in our investment in education. Information available at Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

The population of the US in 1970 was 203,392,031,000 and in December of 2012 is 315,000,000,000, which is a 55% increase.

Going a little further with a 55% population increase the amount in 2012 to be equal to the investments in education in 1970 should be $2,106,892,000,000

So, given these two pieces of data, your statement is unfounded and incorrect. Do the math.

@Chadwick... are you so factually impaired to not be able to understand that when the population of the US increases by 55% that the number of children doesn't increase also?

@Chadwick... I apologize for missing "in current dollars" in your post. My calculations were incorrect because of that. However there are approximately 9,000 more public K - 12 schools than there were in 1970 and many millions more students. Those two items alone would tell lus that we would have to be spending more per pupil than was spent in 1970. The cost of technology: smart boards, computers, tablets, etc. were not present in 1970 either.

BTW, the word is "you're" and not "your" if you are going to be a stickler.

@Chadwick... I am not implying that more spending is the answer, I was merely pointing out that due to growth and inflation what we spend today should be more than what we spent 40 years ago.

The infographic that you referenced shows that Finland appears to be the world's leader in education, which has been publicized elsewhere. Do you think that the US is ready to take hints from how Finland does things? Teachers in Finland are paid on a scale similar to its physicians. How do you think that would fly in the US? I would wager that the percentage of total costs of education contains a much higher expenditure on gyms, sports teams, stadiums and athletic fields in the US. How would people react to cutting that back and putting the money into teachers' salaries?

@Chadwick... before you make that standard "knee-jerk" comments regarding teachers, unions and tenure you might want to learn more about the educational system in Finland.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/state_edwatch/2011/11/_my_conclusion_is_that.html
And here is another one: http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/134546558.html

Perhaps it is not the union itself, but the relationships that have been contaminated over the years. Re-thinking the role and purpose of teachers' unions would more likely be successful than "throwing the baby out with the bathwater".

It would seem that the teachers union in Finland is part of what makes the system the best in the world at this time.

Just sayin'.
.

Umm, I did actually answer your question. If you didn't take the time to read and grasp it then maybe you should take a reading comprehension course. It would probably help you make a cohesive argument if you actually read more than the Daily Kooks everyday too.