Big Names and Bold Ideas Coming to ALEC Annual Meeting: Lars Dalseide on NewsTalkSTL
It’s going to be quite a week indeed.
Big names and bold ideas are coming as over 1,500 legislators, policy experts, and leaders descend on Indianapolis for ALEC’s 52nd Annual Meeting. The city is set to become a hub for the most pressing policy conversations in America. With momentum building, anticipation is high—not only for the headline events but also for a behind-the-scenes look at what makes ALEC such a powerhouse organization.
“ALEC has been around for 52 years,” said ALEC’s Director of Policy Advancement and Media Relations Lars Dalseide during a segment on NewsTalkSTL’s Tim Jones and Chris Arps Show. “In those 52 years, we’ve been coming up with the trusted policy solutions, the model policies, the things that we think that can make the states work a little bit better.”
If ALEC is the engine behind model legislation nationwide, Dalseide is the one in the control room. Jones playfully described him as “the Great and Powerful Oz that makes it all happen with all the media and PR stuff”—the media maestro who keeps it running. “I appreciate you having me on,” Dalseide replied with a chuckle.
The upcoming conference promises more than just networking. “We’ve got general sessions, plenaries—the big-ticket events where we hear from big names like Secretary of Education Linda McMahon,” Dalseide said. “She’s going to talk about what she’s doing, what’s ahead, and how we can all have a hand in it.”
Part of ALEC’s enduring strength comes from its structure as a voluntary, legislative membership-driven organization. “It’s actually the legislators that drive ALEC,” Jones emphasized. That grassroots approach has allowed homegrown policy ideas to spread nationally.
One of the most notable examples comes from West Virginia Senator Patricia Rucker. “She came up with the Hope Scholarship, a way to give universal education freedom to West Virginians,” Dalseide explained. “That became a model policy, and now 16 other states have some version of it.”
While honoring established leaders, ALEC is also looking to the future. A key partnership with Run Gen Z is helping usher in the next generation of public servants. “Some of the kids that they have coming out there, I’ve sat down with them, and they’re going to do some great things down the road,” Dalseide said. “Someday, we might see them in governor’s mansions or even the presidency.”
And the speaker list? It’s stacked. Dalseide teased appearances from Dr. Arthur Laffer, the man behind the Laffer Curve, and entrepreneur-turned-political-figure Vivek Ramaswamy. “It’s going to be quite a week indeed.”