ALEC front man indicted for corruption in Georgia

<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.890625px;">Remember when loony Georgia state lawmakers tried to make it a felony not just to picket, but to <i>conspire</i> to picket? Fortunately that attack on basic rights</span><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2012/03/woo-hoo-sb-469-killed-in-ga.html" style="background-color: white; color: #336699; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.890625px;">was defeated by our brothers and sisters at Local 728 in Atlanta</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.890625px;">, along with the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/19/tea-party-georgia-anti-picketing-law_n_1364785.html" rel="nofollow">Tea Party</a>, faith leaders, community groups and other labor unions.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.890625px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.890625px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.890625px;">Well, Sen. Don Balfour was one of the leaders of that attack. He's a front man for ALEC, the corporate dating service for state lawmakers. </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.890625px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.890625px;">Or used to be. Now he's been indicted on 18 counts of corruption, according to the <a href="http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/political-insider/2013/sep/27/state-sen-don-balfour-indicted-18-counts/" rel="nofollow">Atlanta Journal-Constitution</a>. Jim Galloway writes:</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.890625px;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;">A Fulton County grand jury has indicted state Sen. Don Balfour, R-Snellville, on 18 counts associated with alleged misuse of his legislative expense account, the Attorney General's office said Friday.</span></span></blockquote>He also accepted money from <a href="http://alecexposed.org/" rel="nofollow">ALEC</a>: <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">The American Legislative Exchange Council awarded “scholarships” totaling $4,792 to Balfour from 2005 to 2009, records show. Corporate donors — including petroleum, pharmaceutical, utility, tobacco and health-care interests — funded the scholarships, which were meant to cover the costs of airfare and lodging to attend ALEC functions. The donations generally are not disclosed as lobbyist gifts, since ALEC does not have a registered lobbyist in Georgia.</blockquote>It's unclear whether accepting those gifts (or lying about them) was part of the indictment.<br /><br />That bill to criminalize picketing, by the way, was an ALEC bill. <a href="http://www.jwj.org/blog/responding-att-protests-alec-bill-introduced-georgia" rel="nofollow">Jobs With Justice</a> reported last year:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Georgia State Senator Don Balfour recently proposed legislation (SB 469) aimed at destroying labor unions, debilitating effective dissent and criminalizing planned peaceful direct action....The bill shares characteristics of model legislation from ALEC, an out-of-state, secretive, corporate-funded council that hands state legislators laws designed to benefit CEOs.</blockquote>Let's just say we hope justice is served.

ALEC exposed SB469 ALEC front man indicted for corruption in Georgia

Remember when loony Georgia state lawmakers tried to make it a felony not just to picket, but to conspire to picket? Fortunately that attac...

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Private prison rap sheet: Violence, abuse, death

Teamsters are fighting private prison companies that try to take over the government's job of punishing inmates -- and do it for obscene profit. In Florida, for example, <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2012/02/make-or-break-fl-prison-privatization.html" rel="nofollow">Teamsters from Local 2011 persuaded lawmakers</a> that it was a very bad idea to turn a third of the state's prisons over to Boca Raton-based GEO Group. Yesterday, <a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/teamsters-private-prison-quotas-rob-taxpayers" rel="nofollow">Teamsters denounced private prison companies</a> that negotiate contracts linking inmate population to profit. The union represents 30,000 correctional officers.<br /><br />Our friends at the <a href="http://prwatch.org/" rel="nofollow">Center for Media and Democracy</a> -- the ones who exposed <a href="http://alecexposed.org/" rel="nofollow">ALEC</a>, the corporate dating service for lawmakers -- are now exposing the predatory corporations that are trying to take over our government. They're doing a 12-part series at "<a href="http://outsourcingamericaexposed.org/">OutsourcingAmericaExposed.org</a>" in which they're outing the worst corporate outsources. Today CMD reveals the horrors of prisons run by GEO Group.<br /><br />Among their findings:<br /><ul><li>CEO George C. Zoley's compensation was an eye-popping $22,315,704 from 2008-2012, almost all paid for by U.S. taxpayers;</li><li><a href="http://www.privateci.org/private_pics/GEO_suit2.pdf">Hundreds of lawsuits</a> have been filed against GEO Group, many of which were settled before trial. The suits range from allegation of inmate death and abuse, excessive force, medical neglect as well as allegations of employment discrimination;</li><li>An audit by the state of Texas found in 1999 that GEO Group (then known as Wackenhut) barely kept the minimum number of guards required in its contract to run a jail in Travis County. The company was fined $625,000 for chronic staffing shortages; </li><li>GEO Group was sued by inmates at East Mississippi Correctional Facility for "barbaric and horrific conditions." The facility, designated for special needs and psychiatric problems, denies patients the most rudimentary mental health services and many committed suicide; </li><li>GEO Group settled a <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/downloads/case/cb_v_walnut_grove_complaint.pdf" rel="nofollow">lawsuit</a> that charged its Walnut Grove Correctional Facility (WGYCF) juvenile prison in Mississippi perpetuated violence and corruption. A <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/downloads/case/walnutgroveDOJ.pdf" rel="nofollow">U.S. Department of Justice investigation</a> found 'deliberate indifference’ in failing to protect youths from harm in seven major areas, including sexual misconduct between guards and inmates and use of excessive force by guards;</li></ul><br />Horrified yet? If not, read the whole thing <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/09/12255/violence-abuse-and-death-profit-prisons-geo-group-rap-sheet" rel="nofollow">here</a>.

ALEC exposed private prisons Private prison rap sheet: Violence, abuse, death

Teamsters are fighting private prison companies that try to take over the government's job of punishing inmates -- and do it for obscene...

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