Legislators and corporate lobbyists meet in secret at Georgia resort
http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/investigations/2015/05/21/investigators-legislators-and-corporate-lobbyists-meet-in-secret-at-georgia-resort/27695105/
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WXIA) The Georgia Legislature has a message for voters: don't ask us about our meetings with corporate lobbyists behind closed doors.
The 11Alive Investigators tracked lawmakers to a resort hotel in Savannah last week, where we observed state legislators and lobbyists mingling in the hotel bar the night before they gathered in private rooms to decide what new laws would best serve the corporations.
The meetings were part of the Spring Task Force Summit of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.
What is ALEC?
"It's really a corporate bill mill," said Sen. Nan Orrock, an Atlanta Democrat who has served in both houses of the Georgia General Assembly for years. "They're cranking out legislation, putting it into the hands of legislators who go back and file it."
Orrock would know. She was once a member of ALEC.
"The corporations that are there have equal standing with the legislators," Sen. Orrock said.