Block the Vote: How the Koch-Backed American Legislative Exchange Council Aims to Keep You from Voting
Across the country, voters in a number of states will face obstacles to casting ballots in the 2012 elections, in large part because of model legislation drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the organization backed by, among others, billionaires Charles and David Koch. It was ALEC’s draft legislation that inspired a spate of recently passed voter ID laws that, if allowed to stand, are expected to marginalize the impact of students and people of color at the polls in Texas, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Kansas. (Under the Texas law, for example, a college ID is not an acceptable form of identification for voting, but a military ID is.)
In a recent article published at The American Prospect, author Patrick Caldwell sheds light on ALEC’s M.O. For all the talk about preventing voter fraud—which was been shown to be a minimal threat to voting integrity—these new laws appear to be more about deciding just what kind of person gets to vote.
One of the most jarring examples of ALEC’s influence is the recent overturning of Maine’s longstanding same-day voting law by a newly elected Republican legislature. Maine’s law had been on the books since 1973, allowing the state to boast a much higher level of civic participation than the nation at large.
Why the Maine Mural Matters
Jeffrey Neil Young, an attorney representing (pro bono) the artists suing Maine to reinstall the mural to the state’s Department of Labor, writes today in the Portland [Maine] Press Herald that the now-removed panels depicted are vital reminders of what unions have achieved. Below is an excerpt from his op-ed. If you’re in Washington, D.C., stop by the AFL-CIO where reproductions of the mural are now on display.
Six months ago, Gov. [Paul] LePage ordered the removal of a labor history mural from the lobby of the Department of Labor. Until then, the mural was largely unknown to most Mainers, including LePage himself.
A hearing in federal court is likely to take place soon to finally resolve whether the mural is the artist’s speech protected by the First Amendment or “government speech” unprotected by our nation’s Constitution.
So why all the fuss? Does the mural really matter? I say yes. In the words of the Spanish philosopher George Santayana, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
Maine Labor Mural on Display at AFL-CIO
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Check out the a reproduction of the 11-panel mural depicting Maine’s labor history that the state’s governor has banned. It’s on display now through Oct. 11 at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage ordered the original mural, by artist Judy Taylor, removed from state property in March and continues holding the artwork hostage. The mural depicts the state’s labor history, including a 1986 paper mill strike, “Rosie the Riveter” at the Bath Iron Works and the enactment of child labor laws.
Election Day Registration People’s Veto Campaign
Barbara Niccoli-Hiltz from the AFL-CIO field staff sends us this report.
After Maine Gov. Paul LePage and the state legislature repealed the state’s Election Day voter registration earlier this year, the Protect Maine Votes coalition, which includes the Maine AFL-CIO, went to work gathering signatures to put repeal of the measure before voters this fall. Last week, the coalition submitted 69,296 signatures to the Secretary of State’s office, well above the 52,277 needed for the referendum to qualify.
More than 68,000 people registered to vote on Election Day in 2008 and 2010 combined, and by repealing Maine’s 38-year policy of Election Day registration, the Republican-controlled government sought to deny many citizens from voting.
Maine Rolls Back Child Labor Laws. 1 Down, 1 to Go in ‘Right to Work’ Fight
Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R)—the same LePage who was so incensed about a labor history mural that included a depiction of the fight for strong child labor laws that he ordered it taken down—signed a bill yesterday that weakens Maine’s child labor laws.
The bill allows business owners to work teenagers longer hours each day and later into the night. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds can now work six hours a day and until 10:15 p.m. on school nights. But counting weekends and short school weeks, employers could have teenage workers on the clock for as many as 50 hours a week.
The Maine Restaurant Association, Maine Innkeepers Association and other business groups backed the child labor law rollback. Says Rep. Timothy Driscoll (D):
I think this bill should be more rightly titled an act to exploit our children for the financial benefit of the restaurant and the hospitality industry.
Maine Taxpayers Will Pay for Gov.’s Mural Move
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Looks like Maine taxpayers will foot a hefty bill for Gov. Paul LePage’s blatant partisanship. Last month in a stealth move, LePage unilaterally removed an 11-panel mural from the state’s Department of Labor, saying its depictions of Maine working people was “anti-business.”
Now, Washington Post reporter Jason Horowitz found that because federal funding contributed to the mural, if LePage does not exhibit the art in an appropriate government building,
he must reimburse the state’s unemployment trust fund account 63.39 percent of the “current fair market value,” according to the Labor Department. Given the painting’s new cultural significance, LePage may unintentionally have taken on the role of a political Larry Gagosian, the art dealer who has a knack for driving up prices. Tom Denenberg, the chief curator of the Portland Museum of Art, said that while he wouldn’t put a dollar amount on the mural’s appreciation, the governor’s focus “without a doubt dramatically increases its importance.”
The mural also included a depiction of Maine resident and first female Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, and its removal prompted Mount Holyoke College President Lynn Pasquarella to write a scathing letter to LePage saying his action “conjures thoughts of rewriting history prevalent in totalitarian regimes.” Perkins was a Mount Holyoke graduate.
Judy Taylor, the local artist who won a competition to design the mural, said LePage’s depiction of the art as akin to North Korean propaganda was particularly unfortunate. Her father was awarded a Bronze Star for his service in the Korean War.
Maine Republican State Lawmakers Take Issue with Gov. LePage
“Government by disrespect” is how six Maine Republican lawmakers are describing the actions of their fellow Republican, Gov. Paul LePage. In recent days, LePage unilaterally removed an 11-panel mural from the state’s Department of Labor that depicts the history of working people in Maine. In an op-ed in the Portland [Maine] Press Herald, the lawmakers write:
We should be focused like a laser on the agenda the governor laid out—reducing our tax burden, getting rid of unnecessary government regulation that stifles innovation and entrepreneurship, and putting into place thoughtful welfare reform.
Instead, we find ourselves continually diverted, responding to yet another example of our chief executive picking a personal fight not worth fighting. “Government by disrespect” should have no place in Augusta, and when it happens, we should all reject it.
As residents protested the move to remove the mural, LePage derided them as “idiots,” setting a tone that these Republican lawmakers say has no place in public discourse.
Maine Now Second State to Push Child Labor
Why is it that some Republican lawmakers really want to see the return of child labor?
State legislative sessions have been brutal enough for working families this year, but Republicans, first in Missouri and now in Maine, want to go even further—by “relaxing” laws preventing children from being exploited. As Amanda Terkel reports:
The minimum wage in Maine is $7.50 an hour, and there is no training or subminimum wage for students. But under a new piece of legislation introduced in the state’s House of Representatives, employers would be able to pay anyone under the age of 20 as little as $5.25 an hour for their first 180 days on the job.
The bill, LD 1346, also eliminates the maximum number of hours a minor 16 years of age or older can work on a school day and allows a minor under the age of 16 to work up to four hours on a school day during hours when school is not in session.
This move works well with Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s unilateral removal of an 11-panel mural from the Dept. of Labor. The mural depicted the history of working people and their struggles for improvements at the workplace. Improvements like the elimination of child labor, say. As Joseph McCartin, associate professor of History at Georgetown University writes today about Lepage’s actions:
The effort to erase this past is dangerous. More than a mere exercise in political score settling, it is an effort to rewrite the nation’s history, erasing unions from it.
Maine Mural Artist Has a Few Words for Gov. LePage
When he yanked the 11-panel mural depicting workers in Maine, Gov. Paul LePage said he had been told the images were akin to North Korean propaganda.
Now, the artist of the murals, Judy Taylor, says LePage’s comment was especially painful–because her father was awarded a Bronze Star for his service in the Korean War. The New York Times quotes a statement Taylor issued today describing her father:
“He was a man who stood by every word he spoke,” she wrote. “It was so heartbreaking to learn that this controversy may have started with an anonymous letter comparing this mural to a North Korean propaganda poster. Perhaps we should hang my father’s Bronze Star for his service in Korea in the now empty reception area of the Maine Department of Labor until the mural is returned, as a symbol of the importance of remembering our history, and not shuttering it away.” Read the rest of this entry »
Removal of Labor Mural Akin to Action by ‘Totalitarian Regimes’
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Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s unilateral decision to remove an 11-panel mural depicting the state’s working families raises “grave concerns,” wrote Mount Holyoke College President Lynn Pasquarella in a letter to LePage. The mural, which LePage removed from the Department of Labor over the weekend, includes a depiction of 1902 Mount Holyoke graduate and former U.S. Labor Secretary Frances Perkins. (Kudos the Maine Democratic Party for posting the mural on its website.) As Pasquarella told LePage:
I was particularly surprised to read that you were influenced by an anonymous fax comparing the 11-panel mural to North Korean political propaganda, because the act of removing images commemorating Maine’s history itself conjures thoughts of rewriting history prevalent in totalitarian regimes.
Look for Pasquarella’s name to appear on lists compiled by far right groups. In recent days, according to a report broken by TPM, the extremist Michigan-based Mackinac Center has
made a broad public records request to at least three in-state universities with departments that specialize in the study of labor relations, seeking all their emails regarding the union battle in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.
The group is targeting academic supporters of working families and their unions.
