ALEC has had a great run for the legions of the plutocratic Far, Far Right, but it's hardly essential to them

If you haven't registered yet for ALEC's 39th Annual Meeting, July 25-28 in where-it's-at Salt Lake City, I'm sorry to have to report that the "housing cut-off deadline" was June 26. You might might to check, though, and see if there have been cancellations.

by Ken

Howie has written a good deal about the innocent-sounding American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which sounds like some sort of minor technocratic legislative clearing house but, as I'm sure most DWT readers know, was developed and carefully nurtured by the oligarchs of the Far, Far Right to be an engine of transformation, focusing on the state legislatures as its largely stealth (until recent years) battleground for turning the country into the fascist republic of its lurid dreams.

As the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org has explained (see below):

ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills.

Rooting around in the archives I turned up these posts of Howie's:

* "Conservative Democratic Legislators Deserting ALEC" (4/28/2012)
* "What Are Bad 'Democrats'? ALEC Has A List . . . A Membership List" (4/22/2012)
* "Another One Percent -- The Democratic Legislators Who Have Joined ALEC" (3/19/2012)
* "Chris Larson (D-WI) On ALEC: 'If They Look Like A Lobbyist, Talk Like A Lobbyist And Walk Like A Lobbyist, They Should Be Regulated Like A Lobbyist' ” (2/17/2012)
* "We Don't All Get To Vote on Creeping Fascism The Way Maine Does" (9/11/2011)
* "ALEC -- The Biggest Threat To America Since The Nazis . . . And A Very Similar One" (7/14/2011)
* "You And Your Family Have An Enemy . . . Named ALEC" (8/4/2011)

THE SPOTLIGHT HAS NOT BEEN GOOD FOR ALEC

That "stealth" I referred to has been important to ALEC. Like most subversive operations, it works a lot better with a minimum of scrutiny, and the last couple of years have seen a rising tide of unwelcome interest and outright investigation. And it's a fine thing that more and more corporations that previously supported the operation, and politicians who in happier times happily served as eager coconspirators, have discovered that being caught with ties to ALEC may not be healthy for their business.

As a result, ALEC's 39th Annual Meeting, which takes place later this month (the 25th through 28th, to be precise, in the Far Right paradise of Salt Lake City) may not be quite the carnival the smart ALECks are used to. This is a fine thing, and in just a moment I'm going to turn the podium over to ALEC Exposed, which takes understandable pride in this ever-growing list of companies that have separated themselves from the enterprise.

First, though, I want to sound a note of caution. For the people who made ALEC what it is, it can't be a pleasant thing to see its usefulness so seriously diminished. A lot of organizational energy not to mention piles of moolah went into that job. But I don't think these people -- and I'm thinking of people like the Koch brothers -- are terribly sentimental about what are, after all, merely tools they pick up or forge along the way to their dream hell Missions that in recent times have been accomplished via ALEC will now simply have to be jury-rigged by other means. As long as there 's no shortage of money or will -- and I certainly don't see any such shortage on the horizon -- they can simply parcel out the "to-do list" to other puppet organizations of their own and other people's creation, and create new ones, which may by virtue of their freshnes may in fact prove be better suited to the tasks at hand

So if I'm kind of standing on the sidelines enjoying the specter of the Flight from ALEC, I'm not exactly celebrating. Considering the resources available to the Friends of the American Oligarchy, and their willingness to dig deep into their pockets, I don't see much slacking off in the missions ALEC has been serving.

That said, let's at least enjoy the sight.


From ALEC Exposed, as of July 10, 2012 -- links and footnotes available onsite

Corporations Which Have Cut Ties to ALEC

(Redirected from Corporations Who Have Cut Ties to ALEC)

Learn more about corporations VOTING to rewrite our laws.

About ALEC

ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site.

To see a list of corporations and other groups known to be connected with ALEC now or in the past, please see ALEC Corporations.

As of July 10, 2012, 25 corporations and four non-profits -- for a total of 29 public sector members -- have publicly announced that they are cutting ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC):

Corporations

• Coca-Cola Company: Gave a statement to the Washington Examiner on April 4th stating that it had "elected to discontinue its membership with the American Legislative Exchange Council" ^[1]
• Pepsi: Informed Color of Change in a letter dated January 25th that they would not renew their membership in ALEC in 2012.^[2]
• Kraft: Announced in an email on April 6th that "Our membership in ALEC expires this spring and for a number of reasons...we have made the decision not to renew." ^[3]
• Intuit: Told the Center for Media and Democracy on April 6th that they did not renew their membership when it expired in 2011. ^[4]
• McDonald's: Initially defended its membership in ALEC ^[5] Announced on April 10th that they had made the decision to withdraw from ALEC at the end of March. ^[6]
• Wendy's: Sent an email to the Center for Media and Democracy on April 11th confirming that it is no longer a member of ALEC ^[7]
• Mars: Sent an email to Color of Change on April 12th, stating that they had ended their membership with ALEC ^[8]
• Arizona Public Service: Told the Arizona Capitol Times on April 12th that their membership expired that summer and they would not renew it. ^[9]
• Reed Elsevier: Told Reuters on April 12th that they had withdrawn "after considering the broad range of criticism being leveled at ALEC," ^[10]
• American Traffic Solutions: Told the Arizona Capitol Times on April 13th that they would not renew their ALEC membership. ^[11]
• Blue Cross Blue Shield: Announced on April 19th that it had not renewed its membership in February 2012.^[12]
• YUM! Brands: Told Color of Change that they would not renew their membership on April 19th. ^[13]
• Procter & Gamble: Told Color of Change that it would not renew its membership on April 20th.^[14]
• Kaplan: Wrote Republic Report on April 26th, 2012 to confirm that they were no longer a member of ALEC^[15]
• Scantron Corporation: Told CMD in May 2012 that it was no longer a member of ALEC.^[16]
• Amazon.com: Announced at a shareholder meeting on May 24, 2012 that it had decided not to renew its membership in ALEC this year.^[17]
• Medtronic: Medtronic did not renew its ALEC membership in 2011 or 2012, according to a spokesperson.^[18]
• Wal-Mart: Wal-Mart told Reuters on May 30 that it is suspending its ALEC membership because "we feel that the divide between these activities and our purpose as a business has become too wide," according to Wal-Mart vice president of public affairs and government relations and ALEC corporate board secretary Maggie Sans.^[19]
• Johnson & Johnson: A Johnson & Johnson spokesperson told CMD on June 12, "We have been in dialogue with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) for some time, and while we acknowledge ALEC’s recent decision to focus only on innovation and growth-supporting policies, we have decided to suspend our participation and membership.”^[20]
• Dell Computers: Dell confirmed on June 21, 2012, that it would not be renewing its ALEC membership.^[21]
• John Deere & Company told ColorOfChange.org in July 2012 that it is leaving ALEC.^[22]
• CVS Caremark told ColorOfChange.org in July 2012 that it had discontinued its ALEC membership.^[22]
• MillerCoors told ColorOfChange.org in July 2012 that it had not renewed its ALEC membership in 2012, nor does it plan to.^[22]
• Hewlett-Packard (HP) told ColorOfChange.org in July 2012 that it is not currently an ALEC member.^[22]
• Best Buy told ColorOfChange.org in July 2012 that it had not renewed its ALEC membership in 2012.^[22]

Non-Profits

• Gates Foundation: Gates spokesman Chris Williams, while careful to note that Gates has never been a formal ALEC member, told Roll Call on April 9, 2012 that it does not plan to renew its financial support for ALEC's education initiatives. "We have made a single grant, narrowly and specifically focused on providing information to ALEC-affiliated state legislators on teacher effectiveness and school finance," said Williams.^[23]

• National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS): In an official statement sent to the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) on May 1, 2012, NBPTS spokesperson Brian Lewis said, "Given recent events, the new NBPTS President and CEO decided to discontinue engagement with ALEC. As a result, NBPTS terminated its membership as an Education Task Force Member of ALEC effective April 18, 2012, and also withdrew from participating in the upcoming ALEC conference. . . . The decision to participate in ALEC had been made by previous NBPTS leadership."^[24]

• National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA): On May 14, 2012, NACSA issued a press release announcing that, "As part of our annual review processes, however, we determined that alternative strategies would be more effective in achieving these policy objectives. Thus we will not be renewing our membership in ALEC when it expires next month."^[25]

• Lumina Foundation for Education: A Lumina spokesperson told CMD on May 23, 2012, "Lumina Foundation last paid annual dues to ALEC on 10/08/10. No staff member was able to attend meetings in 2011. We decided not to renew our membership, because we were not participating."^[26]

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