Corporations

Sunday New York Times Front Page Story on ALEC

Below is an excerpt of the April 21, 2012 front page New York Times expose on ALEC.

New York Times: Conservative Nonprofit Acts as a Stealth Business Lobbyist

By Mike McIntire

Desperate for new revenue, Ohio lawmakers introduced legislation last year that would make it easier to recover money from businesses that defraud the state.

It was quickly flagged at the Washington headquarters of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a business-backed group that views such "false claims" laws as encouraging frivolous lawsuits. ALEC's membership includes not only corporations, but nearly 2,000 state legislators across the country -- including dozens who would vote on the Ohio bill.

Right-Wing Operatives Take Up ALEC's Voter Suppression Agenda

Just as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) tried to distance itself from its role pushing parts of the NRA's gun agenda and making it more difficult for American citizens to vote, a controversial right-wing operation has announced that it will step in to help carry forward the "voter ID" agenda. The "National Center for Public Policy Research" (NCPPR) announced Wednesday that it will form a "Voter Identification Task Force."

This comes in response to ALEC's announcement Tuesday that it will dismantle its "Public Safety and Elections Task Force" through which corporate lobbyists and elected officials voted behind closed doors to approve "model" legislation that creates obstacles to American citizens voting through restrictive voter ID bills, as well as other damaging legislation, such as reckless gun laws that have been cited to protect violent vigilantes from being held accountable.

Hang onto that Paycheck! ALEC "Sharpens Focus on Jobs"

This week the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) announced that it would disband its controversial "Public Safety and Elections Task Force" to "Sharpen its Focus on Jobs, Free Markets and Growth." The disbanding of the source of a few of its more extreme proposals on voter ID, "Stand Your Ground/Shoot to Kill," and AZ SB1070 will do little to clean up ALEC's reputation. Each of ALEC's nine task forces is a little shop of horrors of legislative proposals that only Milton Friedman could love.

ALEC Disbands Task Force Responsible for Stand Your Ground, Voter ID, Prison Privatization, AZ's SB 1070

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.

Grassroots Campaign Makes ALEC Try to Stanch Bleeding of Corporate Donors

ALEC Companies and Politicians Must Be Held Accountable for Vigilante Laws and Bills Making It Harder for Citizens to Vote, plus other Extreme Measures Dressed Up as "Job" Bills

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":

State Farm Insurance Claims "No Fault" in Bankrolling ALEC

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?

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