Dinner and a Movie Thursday: “United States of ALEC”

What: 
Through the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), global corporations and state politicians are voting behind closed doors in order to rewrite state laws that govern the rights of American citizens. These so-called “model” bills reach into almost every area of American life and often directly benefit the corporations. Although many of these bills have become law, until now their origin has been largely unknown. With Bill Moyers’ documentary, “The United States of ALEC,” produced by Common Cause and in partnership with the Center for Media and Democracy’s project, “ALEC Exposed,” the corrosive power of money in politics is brought to light.

The Center for Media and Democracy launched the award-winning “ALEC Exposed” project in July 2011 and “The United States of ALEC” premiered at a Common Cause event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC in October 2011. Since then, the “ALEC Exposed” project has analyzed over 800 ALEC “model” bills, 1000 politicians and more than 700 companies involved in ALEC. Their partners at The Nation have featured ALEC in a cover story as well as several articles since July 2011. The Half Moon Bay Brewing Company is honored to be able to screen this special documentary and host a discussion of the film’s implications with The Nation’s Lee Fang and moderator Greg Galle, the co-founder and executive producer of strategy at Future, an innovation development firm.

When:
Thursday, December 6, 2012
6 to 8:30 p.m.
Buffet opens at 6:30 p.m.
Film begins promptly at 7:00 p.m.

Where:
Mavericks Event Center
107 Broadway Ave.
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019

Reservations and Tickets:
Admission to the screening is complimentary, but advance reservations are required and seating is limited. $20 includes the screening and a special buffet-style dinner prepared by Chef Gaston Alfaro of the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. Beer, wine and other beverages are available for purchase.

Please purchase tickets in advance at http://brewsandviewsalec.eventbrite.com/ or by calling 650-728-BREW.

Dinner and A Movie Menu

Field Greens Salad with assorted local baby greens and balsamic vinaigrette

Roasted Butternut Squash Ravioli

Roasted Balsamic Vegetables with Polenta Cakes and Garlic Pimento Sauce (gluten-free)

Chicken Piccata with lemon caper butter sauce

Assorted Dessert Bites

For More Information:
Call 650-728-BREW (2739) or visit www.hmbbrewingco.com. For more information and for a preview of Bill Moyers’ documentary please visit http://billmoyers.com/episode/preview-the-united-states-of-alec/

Speaker Biography:
Lee Fang is an Investigative Fund Fellow at The Nation Institute and a San Francisco-based journalist covering the intersection of lobbying, politics, and political movements. He is a contributing writer for The Nation, and has a book slated to appear in early 2013 on the campaign by conservatives to block President Obama’s domestic agenda.

Lee was the first to uncover and detail the role of the billionaire Koch brothers in financing the Tea Party movement and multiple “AstroTurf” campaigns in 2009. He led the way in revealing the industry interests financing over two dozen front groups that waged war against the Affordable Care Act, the Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and Waxman-Markey, the legislation designed to cap carbon emissions. His exposé of confidential Tea Party documents showed calculated efforts to harass and intimidate members of Congress. Along with the New York Times, he revealed that Supreme Court justices had attended private fundraisers and strategy sessions hosted by the owners of Koch Industries.

In 2010, Lee’s investigations of the US Chamber of Commerce resulted in a story that showed that the same legal entity used to run millions of dollars of campaign ads received direct foreign funding. The following year, he broke the “ChamberLeaks” story showing that the Chamber had consulted with a set of defense contractors to develop a plan to hack and sabotage several liberal nonprofits and labor unions. His stories on lobbying and political front groups have been covered by CNN, MSNBC, the New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, and the Washington Post, among others. He has interviewed more than fifty members of Congress, David Koch, Justice Samuel Alito, and other leading conservative icons.

Lee previously worked for three years at ThinkProgress.org, and after that, he helped found an investigative news site called Republic Report. His writing has appeared on Salon, in The Boston Globe, and In These Times.

Moderator Biography:
Greg Galle, co-founder at Future, wakes up excited by the possibilities that he works to create with his clients—and what those mean for human kind. He has been exploring how design improves lives through story, experience, visualization, user interface, and innovation for more than 27 years. He has won awards, contributed to books, and helped all kinds of organizations achieve more through design. Still he feels his greatest accomplishment is his kids. Greg leads Future Blitzes that unlock people’s ingenuity—what they imagine and build with Future’s help gives him great hope for a better future.

Greg Galle has been nationally recognized with awards from: The Clio Awards, Communication Arts Magazine, Critique Magazine, ID Magazine, The NY Art Directors Club, New York Arts Festival, and Western Art Directors Club, among others. The Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art has acquired his Suicide Book for their permanent Book Arts collection. Greg serves as a Fuse Corps Advisor and as a Project M advisor. He is also a board member of Not For Sale, the campaign to end slavery and human trafficking within our lifetime.

Greg has collaborated on and been cited in numerous books on design, communication, and business strategy, including The Brand Gap: How To Bridge The Distance Between Business Strategy and Design by Marty Neumeier, Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter’s Guide by Brian Fugere, and Mass Career Customization: Aligning The Workplace with Today’s Nontraditional Workforce and The Corporate Lattice: Achieving High Performance in the Changing World of Work by Cathleen Benko and Molly Anderson.

ABOUT BREWS & VIEWS

Brews and Views is the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company’s regular speakers series that tackles public issues that affect us all, from the Coastside of California to Washington, DC. Started in 2009 by Lenny Mendonca, the founder of the Brewing Company and director at McKinsey & Company, Brews and Views serves as both a free public forum and fundraiser for Coastside nonprofit organizations (ten percent of all dinner proceeds are donated to a local nonprofit after most events). Previous notable guests include renowned forecaster Paul Saffo, managing director of foresight at Discern Analytics; Charles Kolb, president of the Committee for Economic Development; Mike McCurry, former press secretary for President Bill Clinton; Carla Marinucci, San Francisco Chronicle’s political reporter; and California State Assemblyman Jerry Hill.

Previous Brews and Views are playing as a series on local television station, PCTV on Channel 27, Monday nights at 7pm. For additional videos, visit HMB Media at http://www.youtube.com/user/HMBMediaProductions