To The Editor:
I would like to respond to the letter “Role of Government” (The Valley Reporter, April 14, 2016). The letter states, “The role of the Vermont state government should be to govern the state of Vermont. State government shouldn't be in the power generation business.”
The letter quotes the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to solidify its point about the power business and governing. It said that the American Legislative Exchange Council rated Vermont's 2014 economic outlook as No. 49 of the 50 states. This outlook was not surprising from this group. ALEC is not an organization with a balanced viewpoint. According to the Center for Media and Democracy, ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through the secretive meetings of ALEC, corporate lobbyists and state legislators vote as equals on “model bills” to change our rights that often benefit the corporations' ™ bottom line at public expense (www.alecexposed.org/wiki).
What is ALEC? ALEC is funded by member dues and donations, usually untraceable, from such conservative and libertarian groups as the Koch Brothers. ALEC has been noted, for example, to be behind voter ID laws and other forms of voter suppression. Vermont has at least one representative who is a member of ALEC and several who were former members.
Power generation affects all of us. While I am no expert on the power generation business, what a body like ALEC would do if it got ahold of our power generation would not be for our benefit. There are many examples of this. If the government is going to govern on our behalf, perhaps it is a good idea for them to get involved in the power generation business.
Walter Carpenter
Montpelier
