- Connor Gibson, Greenpeace
Earlier this year internal documents from the Heartland Institute, a major hub of climate change denial and right-wing extremism, were publicly leaked. The documents exposed the Heartland Institute's funders and strategies for attacking climate science, and led to a mass exodus of Heartland's corporate funders.
Internal records show ALEC corporations have spent an estimated $4 million to send legislators to posh resorts since 2006
For Immediate Release: October 26, 2012
Contact: Sara Jerving, Center for Media and Democracy, (608) 260-9713; Mary Boyle, Common Cause, (202) 736-5770
Corporate backers of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) have funneled more than an estimated $4 million in gifts to state legislators for travel, hotel rooms, and meals at posh resorts since 2006, according to estimates based on internal ALEC records. The corporate lobby front group is already facing an Internal Revenue Service review of claims that it violated federal law by posing as a charity.
by Sara Jerving and Mary Bottari
In a new lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), big energy extractors are pushing for carte blanche in their interactions with foreign governments, making it harder to track whether their deals are padding the coffers of dictators, warlords, or crony capitalists. The United States Chamber of Commerce, American Petroleum Institute, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, and the National Foreign Trade Council filed a lawsuit on October 10, 2012 against a new SEC rule, which requires U.S. oil, mining and gas companies to formally disclose payments made to foreign governments as part of their annual SEC reporting.
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney suggested to business owners they tell their employees how to vote on a June conference call organized by the National Federation for Independent Business (NFIB), an organization the Center for Media and Democracy has recently exposed as a partisan lobbying group advancing big business interests.
The Koch Industries policy limiting employee speech on social media may be unlawful in light of recent decisions by the National Labor Relations Board, but employers still have broad leeway to impose their political views on workers and punish those who disagree.
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, a "mutual" insurance and financial services company, published a press release last week distancing itself from the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
The Center for Media and Democracy publishes news stories about the American Legislative Exchange Council, its corporate funders and policymakers, and its allied special interest groups, like the American City County Exchange and the State Policy Network with affiliates in states across the country here on PRWatch.org. A list of CMD's reporting on ALEC is provided below.
President Barack Obama rode into office in 2008 on a wave of small donations that some expected would change politics. The small-dollar strategy is still helping Obama fill his campaign accounts, but the electoral landscape has changed rapidly over the past four years and candidates' official campaigns are being overshadowed by unlimited spending from nominally "independent" groups funded by a handful of ultra-wealthy donors.
Pharmaceutical company Sanofi (formerly Sanofi-Aventis), a $33.4 billion a year company based in Paris, France, is cutting ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
Evidence Shows Officials Using Personal Email Accounts to Evade Sunshine Law
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 1, 2012
CONTACT: Brendan Fischer, Brendan@prwatch.org
MADISON -- The Center for Media and Democracy and Common Cause filed suit today against five Wisconsin legislators who also are members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) over their failure to provide ALEC-related records sought under Wisconsin's Open Records Law.
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