The Center for Media and Democracy today released a new report on the American Legislative Exchange Council, examining the extreme conservative organization's powerful and growing influence in the states. The report identifies more than 450 bills introduced by state legislators that copied ALEC's model bills, with West Virginia and Missouri leading the way with the most bills. Across the nation, 84 of these proposed laws passed.

This post originally appeared on the Ohio AFL-CIO blog.

More than 20 union veterans and members representing each branch of the military, along with the group Veterans Helping Veterans & Others Inc., met near the Ohio Statehouse today before heading out to meet with 10 senators to discuss gaining support for Senate Bill 13 (S.B. 13), the Veteran Opportunities Act, sponsored by Lou Gentile (D-Steubenville).

Update: Ohio Gov. John Kasich issued an order to state agencies they must consider veterans' military skills and service for civilian job licensing and college credits.

In a huge voter outreach push in the final days of the election cycle, the AFL-CIO political program in Ohio completed more than 800,000 voter contacts. That far exceeds previous election years. The unprecedented level of voter communication capped the massive effort under way since Labor Day that reached more than 2 million Ohio voters with 80,000 volunteer shifts.

Ninety-year-old Augusta Thomas, national vice president for women and fair practices at AFGE, knows each step gets her closer to helping elect candidates who will work for working families.

Thomas is canvassing in Cleveland, telling America's workers what's at stake for them and their families in this election.

Communications giant Clear Channel—bought by Mitt Romney’s former firm Bain Capital in 2008—continues to refuse to take down billboards in Ohio and Wisconsin that voting rights experts say have just one purpose: to intimidate and suppress the African American and Latino vote in those two states. Those votes could mean the difference between President Obama winning re-election or Mitt Romney taking the White House.       

Sign a petition from Color of Change to Clear Channel demanding that it take down the billboards.

On May 8th, the Ohio AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council held its first lobby day at the Ohio Statehouse. Veterans made the trip to the Capitol from all over Ohio—Dayton, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Lancaster, Youngstown, Canton, Akron, Columbus and everywhere in between to lobby their legislators on issues important to veterans and their families.

Mike Gillis, Ohio AFL-CIO communications director, sends us this.

A new report released today by People For the American Way Foundation, Common Cause, the Center for Media and Democracy and Progress Ohio reveals the deep ties between the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Ohio state lawmakers.

Deborah Dion with the Ohio AFL-CIO field program sends us this.

Speaking at a Cleveland rally on the eve of Nov. 8, Election Day, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka brought down the house yesterday when he spoke passionately about why we must join together and beat back Issue 2/ S.B. 5. More than 500 union volunteers from 30 different local unions as well as community activists and Columbia University students from New York City rose to their feet repeatedly cheering before hitting the doors to canvass city neighborhoods  to spread the message about voting “No” vote on Issue 2/S.B. 5.

More than 11,000 people today rallied at the Capitol in Columbus to launch the campaign to overturn a law backed and recently signed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) that eliminates the rights of 350,000 public employees to bargain for middle-class jobs.

With the state House expected to take up Senate Bill 5 next week, Ohio working people are stepping up their grassroots opposition to the legislation that takes away the right of public employees to bargain for good middle-class jobs.