ALEC Ties Bring Down British Defense Secretary, Threaten Prime Minister David Cameron
"British Defense Secretary Liam Fox has stepped down in the midst of an escalating scandal tied to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The ALEC connections have led opposition party leaders and the British press to question whether British Prime Minister David Cameron has been "allowing a secret rightwing agenda to flourish at the heart of the Conservative party."
Fox, Atlantic Bridge, and ALEC
Last week, the Center for Media and Democracy reported on the escalating political scandal involving allegations that Fox's friend and former flatmate, Adam Werrity, had been profiting off of their relationship. Werrity had been handing out business cards embossed with Parliament's logo that described him as an "adviser" to Fox, and businessmen had gone through Werrity to arrange meetings with the defense minister. Lobbying firms and charities tied to Werrity, in turn, would receive payments from some of those same individuals and special interests. As the Fox-Werrity scandal unfolded, it emerged that Werrity had been using Fox's taxpayer-funded office as the official headquarters of a "charity" Fox had founded in 1997 called "Atlantic Bridge."
In 2001, the American Legislative Exchange Council set up a sister charity by the same name, which led to a surge in Atlantic Bridge funding and activities.
The Guardian stated that, as a result of the ties to ALEC, "It is hard to escape the conclusion that in the space of five years the Atlantic Bridge went from a small, Tory-leaning charity, dispensing freedom medals in the name of Thatcher, to an influential networking club linking most of the cabinet to powerful business interests, neocons and Tea Party enthusiasts."
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/10...-secretary-threaten-prime-minister-david-came
