More Corporations Abandon Right-Wing Group Under Pressure from Progressives
There’s big news on the ALEC front today: both retail giant Wal-Mart and Medtronic, a medical device company, have decided to dump the secretive right-wing group. It appears that ALEC’s campaign to promote controversial voter suppression and so-called Stand Your Ground laws played a role in Wal-Mart’s decision to part ways with the group:
“Previously, we expressed our concerns about ALEC’s decision to weigh in on issues that stray from its core mission ‘to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets,'” Maggie Sans, Wal-Mart vice president of public affairs and government relations, said in a May 30 letter addressed to ALEC’s national chairman and executive director.
“We feel that the divide between these activities and our purpose as a business has become too wide. To that end, we are suspending our membership in ALEC.”
Here’s the recap of where we stand on ALEC:
54…state legislators have now dropped ALEC.
19…major corporations have dropped ALEC, including big names like Amazon.com, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kraft, Wendy’s, Mars, Inc., Kaplan, Procter & Gamble, Yum! Brands, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Intuit,
4…non-profit organizations have dropped ALEC, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
It appears that ALEC may be headed toward the same fate as the notorious climate-denying Heartland Institute, which has been abandoned by many of its corporate donors after it crossed the line one too many times.
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