Duane Parde

Duane Parde is President and Chief Operating Officer of the National Taxpayers Union, a co-founder of the Phoenix Strategies consulting firm, and the former Executive Director of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Ties to American Legislative Exchange Council
Parde was Executive Director of ALEC from December 1996 to January 2006. He was replaced in early 2006 by the new Executive Director, Lori Roman.

To see a list of ALEC's current and former staff, visit the ALEC Staff page.

According to the Heartland Institute, "During more than a decade at the helm of ALEC (1995-2006), Parde dramatically expanded the organization's influence while advocating goals [the National Taxpayer's Union] has long shared. These include a permanent federal ban on discriminatory state and local Internet access taxes; a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; tax simplification emphasizing lower, flatter rates; and Medicaid reform through cost controls and individual empowerment."

According to Parde's National Taxpayer's Union bio, before 1992 Parde was "ALEC's Director of State Legislation and Research, responsible for directing ALEC's policy operations. His specialty was tax and fiscal policy issues, and he was instrumental in ALEC's successful efforts to ratify what was then called the "Madison Pay-Delay Amendment," which required that Members of Congress sit for an election before they could receive a pay raise. This provision was ratified in 1992, becoming the 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and the first new amendment since 1973."

Other History
From 1992 to 1995, Duane was the Director of State Affairs for the Council for Affordable Health Insurance (CAHI), a national trade association representing the interests of small and medium-sized health insurance companies.

"After receiving his bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Kansas, Duane accepted a position as Legislative Research Assistant in the Kansas Attorney General's Office. He is a member of the American Society of Association Executives, The Federalist Society, and The University Club of Washington, D.C. He is the author of numerous papers and articles on state policy, and has testified many times before state legislative committees on a wide range of issues."

Sourcewatch resources

 * American Legislative Exchange Council