ALEC Recognizes its Stars

The American Legislative Exchange Council held its Annual Awards Dinner on December 7th in Nashville during the States and Nation Policy Summit.  And the winners are…

Legislator of the Year: Representative Seth Grove (PA)

Here’s what the local paper, the York Dispatch, wrote about the ALEC Legislator of the Year award winner:

“Lest anyone think that no one can go to Harrisburg and immediately start making a difference, we offer exhibit A: State Representative Seth Grove, (R-Dover Township), elected in 2008 and one of the hardest-working legislators around.” 

During his short time in office, Rep. Grove has shepherded 16 bills into law and 10 resolutions adopted by the House of Representatives. Last year, during a historic 267-day budget stand-off, Rep. Grove stuck to his guns and said: “Clearly, taxing and spending will never be the solution to budgetary woes. Instead, we should adopt pro-economic growth policies which emphasize limited government and low taxes.” Since 2008, Rep. Grove tackled many contentious and complicated issues and won. Take pension reform. His pension legislation was signed into law by Governor Tom Wolf (D.) and has become a model for other states struggling with funding its plans. As federal tax reform was heating up, Rep. Grove came to Washington to support the ALEC position to eliminate the state and local tax deduction. As a state legislator, he recognized that tax reform is a federal as well as a state issue. For Rep. Grove’s  belief in pro-growth policies which emphasize limited government and low taxes, ALEC honors him as Legislator of the Year.

Chair of the Year (public sector): Representative Lori Saine (CO)

Lawmaker Lori Saine displays a passion and dedication to the ALEC mission that includes hosting events and promoting ALEC to her colleagues. This year, Rep. Saine recruited 11 members in Colorado. She also led the Colorado Host Committee for July’s Annual Meeting in Denver, helping with speaker selection to ensure Colorado leaders were featured on Task Force and Workshop panels. As a state representative, she received a perfect 100 rating from the Colorado Union of Taxpayers for looking out for the best interests of her citizens. Rep. Saine is a titan of conservatism in the Centennial State, earning an A rating in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 on the Principles of Liberty Scorecard. She also earned the coveted House Champion award from the Colorado Union of Taxpayers. She is dedicated to her family, faith and community and a deserving recipient of American Legislative Exchange Council’s State Chair of the Year Award.

Chair of the Year (private sector): Micki Hackenberger, Axiom Strategies

As Colorado Private Sector Chair, Micki Hackenberger has been a tireless supporter of the ALEC Colorado delegation. She runs Axion, a bipartisan government affairs group and has an in-depth perspective of the issues, the people and the politics. Ms. Hackberger has helped drive ALEC membership as well as plan for this year’s annual meeting. It is in large part due to her work that ALEC had one of its most successful event in over a decade. For all that she does, Ms. Hackenberger received the American Legislative Exchange Council’s State Chair of the Year Award.

Volunteer of the Year: Dawn Frandsen, Senior Legislative Director for Senator J. Stuart Adams (UT)

Dawn Frandsen works quietly behind the scenes for the Utah Senate Republican Caucus run by ALEC member Senate President Wayne Niederhauser. She is a great ally for legislative membership and programming in that state. When something needs doing in Utah, Ms. Frandsen is the person to do it. She is responsible for the 100 percent ALEC membership by Utah Senate Republicans as well as for their perennially high meeting turn out. Ms. Frandsen is a graduate of the ALEC legislative staff fellowship and as a staffer, she even recruited and trained the ALEC state chair in the Utah House. Ms. Frandsen keeps the Caucus moving and is a great ALEC recruiter for legislative membership in her state. Here’s how she does it. Every member of the Caucus is automatically signed up for ALEC membership… by Dawn.  They are also automatically registered for ALEC meetings… by Dawn. Once, when ALEC came to town to hold a briefing, Dawn drove three hours each way to attend the 30-minute session. She even helped recruit and train the new ALEC state chair on the House side even though she does not work in that chamber. For all of her tireless work, I present the Volunteer of the Year Award to Utah’s Dawn Frandsen.