Ohio House member accused of coordinating perks for state lawmakers
The Highland County Press
Ohio Rep. John Adams, R-Sidney, is accused of coordinating a number of perks for state lawmakers from lobbyists related to the American Legislative Exchange Council.
According to its website, The American Legislative Exchange Council (www.alec.org) "works to advance the fundamental principles of free-market enterprise, limited government, and federalism at the state level through a nonpartisan public-private partnership of America’s state legislators, members of the private sector and the general public."
Adams is the ALEC legislative chairman for Ohio.
The 2012 ALEC national chairman is Republican Rep. Dave Frizzell of Indiana.
An Associated Press report said hundreds of emails were sent through Adams' office last year to "arrange free meals and other perks for legislators from lobbyists at events sponsored by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council."
ALEC spokeswoman Kaitlyn Buss told the AP there was nothing out of the ordinary about the activities.
"State legislators work with a number of organizations, and their activities influence scheduling of legislative activity in state capitols," she said. "ALEC is no different from all these organizations."
The Center for Media and Democracy (www.prwatch.org) calls ALEC "a corporate bill mill."
The center said ALEC "is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wish-lists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve 'model' bills.
According to his website, Adams is serving his third term where he was elected by his fellow legislators to serve as Majority Whip. He represents the 78th House District, which is comprised of Shelby and Champaign counties, as well as part of Auglaize County.
Born in Urbana, Adams attended Celina Senior High School. Following graduation in 1978 and several years working at Bethlehem Steel, he left to join the United States Navy.
He earned the exceptional honor of being selected to serve in the Navy SEALs and was assigned to a SEAL team in California. He also served overseas and assisted in training tactical units in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.