I Think I Hear ALEC Knocking At My Door

From In These Times:

On February 25, 2011, Florida State Representative Chris Dorworth (R-Lake Mary) introduced HB 1021. The bill sought to curtail the political power of unions by prohibiting public employers from deducting any amount from an employee’s pay for use by an employee organization (i.e., union dues) or for any political activity (i.e., the portion of union dues used for lobbying or for supporting candidates for office).

And:

Given the similarities between HB 1021 and a rash of like-minded bills in states across the country, including Wisconsin, on March 30 a public records request was sent to Dorworth’s office seeking copies of all documents pertaining to the writing of HB 1021, including copies of any pieces of model legislation the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) may have provided.

And finally:

Dorworth’s office delivered 87 pages of documents, mostly bill drafts and emails, detailing the evolution of what was to become HB 1021. Buried at the bottom of the stack was an 11-page bundle of neatly typed material, labeled “Paycheck Protection,” which consisted of three pieces of model legislation, with the words “Copyright, ALEC” at the end of each.

The ALEC "Paycheck Protection" documents can be found here.I get ahead of myself.

When I wrote about ALEC in mid-June, I ended the blog post with a set of questions, the first one being:

I wonder how much ALEC legislation has oozed into Harrisburg?

Given all of the above, I have to wonder about State Senator John Eichelberger's Public Workers Paycheck Protection Act.

Eichelberger's conservative bona fides are set. He's proposed an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman and has already insulted the commonwealth's LGBT community.

So I gotta wonder how much of Eichelberger's legislation has been enhanced by the Scaife and Koch funded secret society?

A Win For Equality

In case you missed it, 8 out of 14 PA Senators on the Judiciary Committee voted to table SB 707.

Great job to everyone who called/emailed committee members!

And, kudos to the 20+ bloggers who participated in Blog for Equality Day.
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Blog for Equality Day 2010: Oppose Discrimination in the PA Constitution!

It's baaaack!

Pennsylvania State Senator John Eichelberger (R-PA-30th) and some other bigots have introduced yet another "marriage protection" bill: SB 707.

It's scheduled to be voted on in the Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow.

The only things bills like this one do is "protect" and enshrine inequality and therefore must be protested.

As I wrote back in 2008:

The subject of the "equality" of this day is an attempt to amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to define marriage as solely between one man and one woman as part of a "Marriage Protection Amendment."

First, let's throw out any straw man arguments: we are talking about the legal institution of marriage. We are not speaking about any particular religion's take on the subject -- they are free to define marriage exactly as they want.

What we are talking about is a legal contract between two adults. A contract that, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, confers over 1,000 protections and benefits to couples who enter into it. A contract that is currently only available to heterosexual couples. This despite the fact that there are already thousands of families in Pennsylvania headed by gays and that society has determined that encouraging stable, monogamous relationships is healthy for children in these and all families.

Moreover, Pennsylvania already prohibits same-sex marriage so this bill is a waste of time and resources.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION TODAY!

1) Make sure that this divisive, hateful initiative never becomes a reality in Pennsylvania by emailing the Senate Judiciary Committee members here and letting them know that you oppose discrimination in our constitution.

2) Call the Senate Judiciary Committee members (phone numbers here) and tell them to vote NO on SB 707.
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You can click here to see what other Pittsburgh bloggers have to say on this issue.
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Eichelberger Faces His Critics

(H/t to Think Progress)

Here's the entire clip:



Think Progress has a transcript:

SPEAKER: So are you going to apologize to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people in Pennsylvania — and all the people in Pennsylvania for those comments about allowing to exist and calling them dysfunctional.

EICHELBERGER: No, I think you know my answer to that. Thank you very much.

And Sue Kerr gets a shout out at Think Progress:

Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents, an LGBT blog in Pennsylvania, writes, “It is one thing to disapprove of my identity or believe it is a choice, but quite another thing to suggest that I am permitted to exist in spite of my identity. Should I be grateful to Senator Eichelberger for not condoning someone taking away my existence?”

Congratulations to Sue!

PA Senator Eichelberger: "We’re allowing them [gays] to exist"

Take a good, long look at this guy:


He's Pennsylvania State Senator John Eichelberger (R-PA-30th).

He says he's all about "integrity."

Here's how he defines that:


(Click on graphic for larger image)
(What? Nothing about putting prayer back in schools and kicking out them there foreigners?)

Well, at least we know that he's serious about #4 on his pledge because he introduced an amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution to ban same-sex marriage (it's just not good enough for him that PA law already defines marriage as being between a man and a woman).

Eichelberger said in this interview, ''[This is] not an anti-homosexual bill.''

If despite that, you're still somehow convinced that Mr. Integrity First is "anti-homosexual," you'll be happy to know that he believes in allowing teh gays to exist!

Here he is debating State Senator Daylin Leach (D-PA-17th) who introduced a bill to allow same-sex marriage:

Leach: Should our only policy towards [same-sex] couples be one of punishment, to somehow prove that they’ve done something wrong?

Eichelberger: They’re not being punished. We’re allowing them to exist, and do what every American can do. We’re just not rewarding them with any special designation.

Mighty gracious of him if you ask me!

You can read more of his brilliant thoughts on same-sex marriage here and you can hear the entire radio debate here.

You can sign a petition at Keystone Progress here.

And, you can do as Sue @ Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents suggests:

I think you need to do more. You need to call YOUR Senator today or Monday and raise the roof over this outrageous comment. Here's the link to find your Senator. I called Senator Fontana and demanded he address this with Senator Eichelbeger and the Republican and Senate leadership. No way is this okay. I do not exist at the whim of Pennsylvania's Republicans or the hatemongerers masking as the ardent defenders of marriage.

But for the sake of real integrity, DO SOMETHING!
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