Procter & Gamble Becomes 13th Company To Drop ALEC

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Apr 23, 2012 at 2:00 pm

Joining a dozen other major corporations, Procter & Gamble decided not to rejoin the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) this year, according to a statement from Color Of Change, which launched a campaign against the shadowy right-wing front group behind state laws restricting access to the ballot and “stand your ground” gun laws. The statement:

On Friday afternoon, we learned that P&G began reviewing its membership in January and recently decided not to rejoin ALEC in 2012. External Relations Manager Elizabeth Ratchford told us via email that, ‘Decisions about which memberships we retain are guided by budgetary considerations, value to the business and engagement on issues core to our ability to compete in the marketplace.’ The multinational corporation made the determination that ALEC does not help P&G compete for consumers’ loyalty and support.

Procter & Gamble, a Fortune 100 company that is the largest maker of consumer packaged goods in the world and the largest advertiser in the United States, joins other blue chip companies like Coca-Cola and Kraft Foods in disassociating themselves from ALEC. P&G’s main competitor, Johnson & Johnson, has not come to the same decision, Color Of Change notes.
The good government group Common Cause filed a complaint with the IRS today contesting ALEC’s charitable tax status, arguing it is actually a lobby group getting preferential tax treatment.
After the high-profile defections, ALEC shuttered its unit that works on gun and voting legislation to focus on taxes and regulatory issues.

In looking at the possible iimages to illustrate the metaphor of Corp-o-RATS, I would like to add that the number of people who find the time and inclination to put little doll-sized pirate hats on long-suffering rodents is truly amazing, as is the number of people who feel inspired to create pirate costume wearing 'Rattus Norvegicus'. But possibly the most astonishing rat representation has been th giant rats - giant inflatable rats. I will share a few of those images here, and I don't want to know where the location is of the inflation point.