CNP Completes "Three-Legged Stool" with Heritage and ALEC - Coordination Infrastructure Operational

By the end of 1981, Paul Weyrich had established the three core institutions that would serve as the infrastructure for conservative movement coordination for the next four decades: Heritage Foundation (policy research), ALEC (state legislation), and CNP (coordination hub).

Weyrich co-founded Heritage Foundation in 1973 “in tandem with” the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), creating the think tank and bill mill components. Eight years later in 1981, he co-founded the Council for National Policy to serve as the coordination mechanism linking these institutions with donors, media, and activists.

Together, these organizations functioned as what Anne Nelson described as “a three-legged stool for the right, with Heritage as the think tank; ALEC as a state-level ‘bill mill’; and the CNP as a coordinating body for donors, media, and activists.” This structure explained the conservative movement’s systematic effectiveness.

The coordination model was elegant and powerful: Heritage Foundation would develop policy research and proposals, ALEC would translate these into model legislation for state legislatures, and CNP would coordinate funding, messaging, and grassroots mobilization to ensure the policies were implemented. All three organizations could be coordinated through CNP’s secretive meetings.

Weyrich’s imprint on CNP’s mission was clear from its founding: it provided a secretive forum where religiously engaged conservative Christians could coordinate with corporate donors and wealthy funders. His experience building Heritage and ALEC informed CNP’s design as a coordination mechanism rather than an implementing organization.

The three-legged stool structure meant CNP’s membership included Heritage Foundation leadership (providing policy research), ALEC leadership (providing state legislation capacity), Federalist Society members (providing legal strategy), religious right leaders (providing grassroots mobilization), and billionaire donors (providing funding) - all coordinating at the same secretive meetings.

This infrastructure represented the full realization of the Powell Memo’s vision: coordinated conservative institutions spanning policy development, legislation, legal strategy, judicial selection, grassroots mobilization, and funding - all synchronized through a single coordination network that operated in secret.

By the end of 1981, the conservative movement had operational infrastructure that would prove far more sophisticated and effective than anything on the political left. The Heritage-ALEC-CNP coordination structure could develop policy, translate it into legislation, coordinate its passage in multiple states simultaneously, provide legal defense through coordinated litigation, and mobilize grassroots support - all coordinated through CNP.

The completion of this three-legged stool marked a watershed moment in American politics: conservatives now had permanent institutional infrastructure for coordinated movement building, while political opponents still relied on temporary campaign structures and candidate-centered organizations.

Over the next 40 years, this coordination structure would be joined by additional institutions (Federalist Society for judicial selection, Alliance Defending Freedom for litigation, Faith and Freedom Coalition for religious mobilization, Tea Party Patriots for grassroots activation), all coordinated through CNP’s three-times-yearly secret meetings.

The Heritage-ALEC-CNP infrastructure, all bearing Paul Weyrich’s fingerprints, became the backbone of a 54-year institutional capture campaign that would transform American law, politics, and governance.