As the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) comes under increasing scrutiny and both corporate and legislative members sever ties with the organization, the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP) has jumped in to help.
Shortly after issuing a press release announcing that it was disbanding its "Public Safety and Elections Task Force" after 30 years, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) held a training for the right-wing blogosphere.
Under growing public pressure and the departure of multiple corporate members, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has announced it is disbanding the Task Force that has been responsible for some of the organization's most controversial pieces of legislation. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker introduced several bills approved by that Task Force when he was a legislator in the 1990s and early 2000s.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, April 17, 2012.
Contact: Nikolina Lazic at (608) 260-9713 or nikolina@prwatch.org
MADISON, WISCONSIN -- The Center for Media and Democracy's Executive Director Lisa Graves issued this statement today in response to ALEC's announcement that it is disbanding its "Public Safety and Elections Task Force":
Wisconsin's Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch was on Fox News' morning show, "Fox & Friends" defending the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and discussing the historic nature of the upcoming recall elections. Kleefisch and Governor Scott Walker are both facing recall elections on June 5.
Despite calls from Color of Change, the Center for Media and Democracy and other public interest groups to cut ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), State Farm Insurance, the nation's largest auto insurer and a major insurer of homes, has maintained both membership and leadership in the organization. Why would a Fortune #37 company that specializes in making a profit off of risk algorithms take the risk of alienating many of its own customers?
PRESS RELEASE FROM PROGRESS MISSOURI
Contact: Sean Soendker Nicholson at (573) 427-7326 or sean@progressmissouri.org
JEFFERSON CITY -- Progress Missouri today released a detailed research report exposing the influence of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in creating our laws. The research report shows the effect of ALEC, which allows large corporations to write big-business friendly bills and helps legislators advance this legislation on the state level, on Missouri's political system.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker asked members of the National Rifle Association (NRA) for "help" and "support" in his upcoming recall election in a speech at the organization's annual meeting on April 13, where he received an award for signing into law two controversial bills: Concealed Carry legislation, which allows people to be armed with concealed guns almost anywhere in the state, and what the NRA calls the Castle Doctrine, but what is more widely known as "Stand Your Ground," a version of which had been cited to prevent the arrest of the man who shot and killed Trayvon Martin in Florida.
Reed Elsevier joins a mass corporate exodus from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), bringing the total number of corporations that have cut ties with the controversial organization to ten. Reed Elsevier is the parent company of Elsevier, which is one of the largest academic publishing companies in the world. It publishes about 2,000 academic journals and other information-related services, including Lexis Nexis and several scientific journals.
Reuters reported that Reed Elsevier announced on Thursday that it resigned its board seat and dropped its membership with ALEC.
As a stampede of global corporations drop their membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the right-wing organization is apparently desperate for funds.
Several public interest organizations, including the Center for Media and Democracy, Color of Change, Common Cause, People for the American Way, CREDO and others have been asking corporations to stop funding ALEC for its role in helping spread policies like voter suppression and "Shoot First." In the last two weeks, some of America's largest corporations, including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, MARS, Intuit, McDonald's, Wendy's, and Kraft Foods have announced they will not be renewing their ALEC membership. ALEC receives ninety-eight percent of its funding from its corporate members and from foundations, and only through this funding can ALEC advance its agenda.
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