States put brakes on big government: growing up, Duane Parde saw the damage inflicted by government interference. Today, as executive director of ALEC, he champions `prosperity through freedom.'

Insight on the News, Feb 4, 2003 by John Berlau

Duane Parde (pronounced "par-day") was born in tiny Syracuse, Kan., in the southwest corner of the state, then grew up in Salina, and although he has lived in the nation's capital for more than 15 years he has not forgotten his small-town roots. Parde is executive director of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a 30-year-old organization of state lawmakers that fights in statehouses throughout the country for such conservative causes as low taxes, property rights and tort reform.

At the same time, it tries to keep Washington from burdening states with mandates and other big-government interference. Under Parde, ALEC also has focused increasingly on civil-liberties issues. It has passed resolutions against red-light traffic cameras and "emergency" public-health legislation that many critics contend would give state authorities too much power over private property and personal privacy.

Also, ALEC has drafted hundreds of "model bills" for state legislatures, inspiring laws in many states. Its membership includes more than 2,400 lawmakers, encompassing about one-third of the state legislators in the United States. Former members have gone on to some high places. Ninety-eight ALEC alumni currently serve in the U.S. Congress, and some also have moved from the state legislatures to governorships, such as Maryland's newly elected Republican governor, Robert Ehrlich.

It should come as no surprise that ALEC's success at promoting conservative principles has caused it to come under attack from the left. The radical environmental groups Natural Resources Defense Council and Defenders of Wildlife have created an anti-ALEC Website and issued a hostile report on ALEC entitled Corporate America's Trojan Horse in the States.

They attack the organization for receiving support from Enron even though the record shows plainly that Parde and ALEC members firmly told Enron "no dice" when the company tried to push ALEC into supporting "global-warming" restrictions that would have benefited Enron's trading business.

Some state lawmakers were attacked for their ALEC membership during the 2002 campaign. But, when INSIGHT spoke with Parde at the ALEC offices in downtown Washington, the executive director shrugged off such criticism. He insists that ALEC's work is appreciated by many in the states to which he pays regular visits, and the appreciation they express encourages him. "Primarily what happens in Boise, Idaho, is more important to me and this organization than what happens on Capitol Hill," he says.

INSIGHT: What do you think made you a conservative?

Duane Parde: I grew up in Kansas, in a town called Salina, about 80 miles north of Wichita. I saw in Kansas what government programs did to ruin family farmers. I remember distinctly, in the 1970s, the federal government telling farmers to plant wheat from fence post to fence post, because the United Nations had put out all these reports that the world was going to starve. The federal government underwrote all of that. And so the farmers planted a lot of wheat and basically overproduced. Then the price fell, and these farmers lost everything.

Taxpayers had to pick up much of the costs, but I remember the auctions, seeing people's houses and lands foreclosed by banks. I think that was something that really focused my attention on the bad things the government can do.

Then in college I got involved in electoral politics and worked for the attorney general in Kansas and on his campaign. When I moved to Washington, I started working at ALEC. I got a job here working on tax issues and really enjoyed it. I like the idea of prosperity through freedom. I think that works, as opposed to trying to vote ourselves rich through big government.

Q: How does ALEC decide where to put its focus?

A: We have nine task forces, all of which are issue-focused. We have an education task force, for example, and an environmental task force. Those are composed of ALEC members from across the country. Our members bring to the table their ideas of what works and what doesn't work. We have experts on staff, too, and we work with people from think tanks and with academics to really develop solutions to problems.

There's a process that goes on and works its way from task-force meetings and reviews. It involves a lot of debate. Oftentimes we have very stark disagreements. For example, in telecommunications we have people from AT&T arguing against the local Bell companies. The issues are fully aired in public and then at the end of the day there is a bill. That bill goes to the board of directors, which makes sure that the policy reflects the position of the organization. Once it's all been finalized, we send it out to our members along with the research papers and provide access to experts to testify.

Q: What about the charges that ALEC does corporate America's bidding and is a corporate Trojan horse?

A: It's a lie. We have a full, open, public process. The private sector has a right to promote its ideas, and we have rules that govern participation in our efforts. The integrity of our process is confirmed every time we take policy positions that are inconsistent with those favored by our corporate supporters.