A friend who is an elected official in a Greater Minnesota city forwarded an invite to this event in Scottsdale, Arizona, from December 2-4:

Join other local elected officials from across the country at the American City County Exchange (ACCE) for the 2nd ACCE Policy Summit in Scottsdale, AZ on December 2-4.



We want you to be a part of the positive change taking place in communities throughout the United States. At ACCE, you can work and share ideas with other problem-solvers from across the 50 states. Lawmakers are thinking of new, innovative policies that cut red tape, improve local business climates and create workforce-ready students. And it's all happening at ACCE. . . . We hope you can join us in Scottsdale for the 2nd American City County Exchange Policy Summit December 2-4. You will meet local elected officials from across the country in a variety of workshops to educate and inform you about policy experiences in other communities. At ACCE, you can also help develop public policy that encourages best practices for both cities and counties.



The ACCE Policy Summit takes place in conjunction with the American Legislative Exchange Council States and Nation Policy Summit, which brings together state legislators across America.



ACCE is an affiliate of the American Legislative Exchange Council [ALEC], a 501(c)3 organization, that focuses on nonpartisan research, analysis and educational study to protect hardworking taxpayers.



Right now, you can lock-in a low registration rate.



Regardless of your political perspective, we want your input. Come to Scottsdale, share ideas and learn best practices from other elected officials.

Bluestem recommends that readers keep an eye out on city and county board meetings to see if mayors, city council members and county commissioners are going to this conservative fest--and to monitor who is footing the bill for registration, travel, meals and hotel accommodations.

Don't know what ALEC is? Check out ALEC Exposed's "What is ALEC?" page and much more on the site. This past summer in The Nation, Brendan Fischer and Mary Bottari reported in Meet ALEC’s Little Brother, ACCE:

With Congress and the states gridlocked and dominated by special-interest spending, America’s cities have emerged as engines of policy innovation. From efforts to raise the minimum wage and secure paid sick days to bills banning fracking, some of the biggest progressive policy victories in the United States are happening at the local level.

So how has the American Legislative Exchange Council, a powerful lobby serving right-wing interests at the state level, responded to this resurgence of local democracy? With a systematic effort to destroy it. . . .

ALEC task force director Cara Sullivan recently explained to a room full of local officials that when it comes to citizen movements supporting job creation and higher wages, “perhaps the biggest threat comes from the local level.”

Thankfully, she added, ALEC has a solution: “ALEC has passed…state legislation that preempts the polities from within the state from raising the minimum wage higher than the state level.” In other words, if living-wage campaigns succeed at the city or county level, state legislators should intervene, repeal, and ban any such advances.

Sullivan’s comments were consistent with ALEC’s longstanding support for bills to block local control over issues that are important to everyday Americans. Even though ALEC has generally bashed all federal policy affecting the states, and its leaders have claimed that “people are better served by local leaders,” for decades its official policy has been to override local democracy when it threatens corporate interests. . . .

Read the rest at The Nation--and keep checking local government minutes and agendas to make sure your local leaders are keeping a local perspective. ACCE's December 3 Plenary Breakfast speaker is former United States Senator Tom Coburn, whose parting act in the Senate was to block the bipartisan Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans (Clay Hunt SAV) Act.

Fortunately, the bill passed early this year (it wasn't partisan), and we'd like to see local leaders hobnob with someone other than ALEC and Coburn. Sheesh.

Photo: The logo for ACCE's yearly meeting in Scottsdale. If local and county elected leaders want to see pretty red rocks, we recommend Rock County's Blue Mounds State Park near Luverne, Minnesota.

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