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ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, is a corporate-funded, conservative group that generates legislation that elected allies pass in state legislatures. Now, there's a progressive version, SMART ALEC!...Matthew Charles Cardinale is a resourceful progressive activist, focused on affordable housing issues. He just founded State and Municipal Action for Results Today/Agenda for Legislative Empowerment and Collaboration, or SMART ALEC.
If you want to catch up with the work that ALEC has done for corporate lobbyists and right-wing lawmakers, look here. To learn more about SMART ALEC, click here.
Cardinale became an activist as a homeless 14-year-old, and has channeled his energy into Atlanta Progressive News and as an advocate in Atlanta. Now based in Portland, OR, he is lobbying for change there.
He's developed Affordable Housing Impact Statements to collect data in support of expansion of affordable homes, and like ALEC, his goal is to see this concept employed in other cities, too.