February  12  ,  2016   To:  ALEC  Board  of  Directors     Copy  to:  Lisa  Nelson,  C.E.O.                                  Michael  Bowman,  V.P.,  Policy                                    Jonathan  Williams,  V.P.  Center  for  State  Fiscal  Reform        Karla  Jones,  Director  International  Relations  and  Federalism  Task  Force                           A  serious  issue  has  arisen  that  affects  both  the  Article  V  movement  as  a  whole  and   the  welfare  of  ALEC,  which  has  long  been  a  champion  of  Article  V.      The  Compact  for   America  (Compact)  organization,  led  by  Nick  Dranias,  has  begun  a  full-­‐on  assault  of   the  traditional  Article  V  process.  Mr.  Dranias  now  regularly  attacks  the  Article  V   Balanced  Budget  Amendment  (BBA)  effort  and  the  Convention  of  States  Project   movement  and  decries  the  cost  of  running  any  Article  V  Convention.  Perhaps  most   disconcertingly,  Mr.  Dranias  asserts  that  ALEC  Model  Policies  dating  back  to  the   early  1990s  are  unconstitutional.     As  you  know,  there  has  been  a  long-­‐instituted  gentlemen’s  agreement  among  the   Article  V  campaigns  supported  by  ALEC  to  refrain  from  publicly  attacking  each  other   or  otherwise  throwing  each  others’  ALEC  model  legislation  into  disrepute.  Mr.   Dranias’  has  thoroughly  and  repeatedly  violated  that  agreement  through  his   multifaceted  attacks  on  the  Article  V  process  and  specific  Article  V  campaigns.  He   has  aimed  these  attacks  at  both  state  legislators  and  Congress.         For  instance,  on  January  16th,  in  an  e-­‐mail  directed  to  members  of  Congress  (see   attached),  Mr.  Dranias  openly  attempts  to  discredit  the  27  active  BBA  application   count  and  the  aggregation  of  ALEC  model  legislation  with  previous  BBA   applications.  He  asserts  that  the  BBA  Model  Policy  provisions  in  the  ALEC  Article  V   Handbook  passed  by  9  states  “don’t  add  up”  with  the  older  BBA  Resolutions.  He  will   lobbied  members  of  Congress  February  10  and  11  with  the  message  that  the  BBA   only  has  10  constitutionally  valid  applications,  not  27.     The  Compact  issued  another  nationwide  briefing  on  February  1,  2016  (see   attached),  this  time  on  the  alleged  cost  of  a  traditional  Article  V  Convention  versus  a   Compact.  This  one-­‐sided  research  suggested  the  cost  of  a  Convention  of  States,   Congressional  Term  Limits  or  BBA  convention  would  be  significantly  higher  than   the  Compact  approach.    This  study  has  no  merit,  and  in  our  opinion  substantially   underestimates  the  cost  of  the  Compact  approach.    More  importantly,  it  is  irrelevant   compared  with  the  benefits  of  restoring  federalism  and  fiscal  responsibility.         The  Compact’s  attacks  are  baseless,  unwarranted,  unprovoked,  and  damaging  to  the   ALEC  name  and  the  ALEC  goals  of  limited  government  and  federalism.    Further,  they   damage  the  ability  of  their  fellow  Americans  to  save  our  great  nation  from  Federal   overreach  and  national  bankruptcy.       The  undersigned  member  of  ALEC  respectfully  requests  that  our  Board  of  Directors   adopt  a  resolution  revoking  the  membership  of  the  Compact  for  America  for   denigrating  ALEC  model  Article  V  Policies  designed  to  constitutionally  restore   federalism,  limit  government  and  impose  fiscal  responsibility.    We  also  ask  that   ALEC  specifically  disavow  the  Compact  campaign  to  lobby  Congress  against  Article  V   efforts.     In  light  of  the  fact  that  this  year’s  legislative  calendar  is  already  well  underway,  we   ask  that  you  expedite  your  consideration  of  revocation.       Finally,  we  want  to  thank  ALEC  for  its  Article  V  leadership.  It  has  made  all  the   difference  in  the  world  for  our  respective  Article  V  campaigns  to  educate  legislators   on  their  power  to  restore  federalism,  limit  government  and  prevent  national   bankruptcy.         Sincerely,       David  Biddulph   Co-­‐founder  Balanced  Budget  Amendment  Task  Force