ALEC Folds...........Sort of...In the face of broad opposition to their extreme Right Wing agenda

I am much more skeptical that this capitulation is premature. Part of the hold that ALEC has on the right wing legislators and the base which supports their far right of center positions IS toadying to the tea party and libertarians. They can spend less money by controlling legislators than any other means of exerting influence. I dont' think they are genuinely quitting "Guns and Voter Suppression". I'll believe it when I see an absence of hard core resistance to repealing the stupid Shoot First laws that have drastically increased homicides, by reclassifying bad shootings as justifiable homicides. There is no excuse for many of the shootings that are not being prosecuted now, where someone could reasonably avoid shooting another human being especially an unarmed human being, and where the police are almost there.

It doesn't seem like a coincidence either that law enforcement shooting deaths have been steadily rising, as we have more guns in the hands of idiots who legally acquire them and lawfully but foolishly carry them, and who whip them out and shoot wildly at poor provocations.  We have been profiling some of these shootings in our "Armed While Old and White, Flabby and Crabby" series on the folly of those who characterize the majority of the NRA.

I DO believe this group will continue, simply retreating from view, from sunlight, from transparency.  They have too many ill-gotten advantages to fold this easily and take a hike.  They are used to getting their way by fair means or not so legit influence.  In that context, take the following with a healthy skepticism, and continue the pressure.  We will not be done until ALEC is gone and until ALL big money - right OR left - is out of politics.  I wish we had a system in some respects like the UK, in so far as the entire campaign season was much shorter - and where FAR less money was allowed in to the process of elections.  I'd like to extend that to the legislative process as well as the electoral process.

PROGRESSIVE VICTORY: ALEC Ends Its Guns And Voter Suppression Task Force

By Scott Keyes on Apr 17, 2012 at 11:54 am

In the face of mounting pressure from progressive activists and its own corporate sponsors, the American Legislative Exchange Council, a right-wing group funded by corporations like ExxonMobil and Koch Industries, announced today that it will shut down a task force that deals with “non-economic issues,” like voter suppression efforts and “stand your ground” gun laws. ALEC came under intense scrutiny over the past few weeks after progressive groups like Color of Change began pressuring corporations that fund ALEC to drop their support. The Center for American Progress also released a report highlighting the right-wing group’s role in pushing voter suppression efforts around the country. As a result, 10 companies, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Kraft, have pulled out from ALEC.
In response to the exodus of corporate funding, ALEC made the decision today to scale back its operations and focus on “economic” matters. The group released the following statement:

We are eliminating the ALEC Public Safety and Elections task force that dealt with non-economic issues, and reinvesting these resources in the task forces that focus on the economy. The remaining budgetary and economic issues will be reassigned.

This is a monumental move. The now defunct ALEC task force helped usher countless reactionary laws through state legislatures. Most prominent among these are “stand your ground” gun laws that came to the forefront in Florida after Trayvon Martin’s tragic death, and new voter ID laws that could suppress millions across the country, predominantly poor people and minorities.
Yet, while today’s announcement is an important victory, it does not change the fact that ALEC will continue to push corporate-friendly conservative economic legislation. Here is a short list of ostensibly economic measures ALEC has supported in the past:

• State union-busting measures
• Repealing minimum wage laws
• Privatizing public lands
• Repealing capital gains taxes
• Repealing the estate tax
• Fighting any efforts to address manmade climate change while touting “the many benefits of atmospheric CO2 enrichment”
• Repealing paid sick day laws around the country
• Requiring a super-majority to raise taxes
• Pushing rules that deem that kids eating rat poison is an “acceptable risk”

Update

Color of Change calls ALEC’s move a “PR stunt“:

ALEC’s latest statement is nothing more than a PR stunt aimed at diverting attention from its agenda, which has done serious damage to our communities. To simply say they are stopping non-economic work does not provide justice to the millions of Americas whose lives are impacted by these dangerous and discriminatory laws courtesy of ALEC and its corporate backers. It’s clear that major corporations were in bed with an institution that has worked against basic American values such as the right to vote. Now that these companies are aware of what they’ve supported, what will they do about it? If ALEC’s corporate supporters will not hold the institution accountable for the damage it has caused nationwide, then the ColorOfChange community will hold them accountable.

Update

“The American public has wised up to ALEC’s misguided and secretive attempts to co-opt state legislators for corporate profit,” said Common Cause President Bob Edgar. “In folding its Public Safety and Elections Task Force, ALEC is abandoning under pressure the most controversial part of its agenda; that’s an important victory for the American public.”

KRAFT kicks loose from ALEC

Following Pepsi last January, and Coke yesterday, Kraft has joined the so-far single file parade leaving ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the special interest group that writes legislation in secret, benefiting the corporate and wealthy individual members at the expense of tax payers.  That legislation is then handed to the Republican and Tea Party members of the legislature for passage, because of the corrupt links between the two groups.
Now that the brighter light is shining on ALEC, they are no longer able to operate beneath the radar of public notice.  Without all of their secrecy, they are less able to function.  Meanwhile it is not in the interest of corporate brands to be linked to such corrupt self-interest and the waging of culture war on such a large part of the American public by such a small part.
It is a little soon to call this the kind of rats-leaving-a-sinking-ship exodus similar to the departure of nearly all of Rush Limbaugh's advertisers, but we can hope and work to make that so, followed by a similar parade of ALEC legislators leaving our state houses and senates across the country.

 First one leaves,

then another,

then another.

Making a sharp U-turn in policy and funding.

Making a break to run for the exits.

Who, who, who will be the next to go?  

From the LA Times:

Coca-Cola, Kraft leave conservative ALEC after boycott launched

Within hours of advocacy group Color of Change launching a boycott against Coca-Cola for its participation on ALEC’s Private Enterprise Board, the soft drink giant issued a statement saying that it had “elected to discontinue its membership.”

But the company blamed ALEC’s support of “discriminatory food and beverage taxes” instead of “issues that have no direct bearing on our business.”

“We have a long-standing policy of only taking positions on issues that impact our company and industry,”Coca-Cola said.
Kraft followed late Thursday, saying in a statement that it has “made the decision not to renew” its ALEC membership, which is expiring. The company was opaque in its reasoning, citing “limited resources” and saying that its involvement with ALEC “has been strictly limited to discussions about economic growth and development, transportation and tax policy.”
Still, the withdrawals pleased ALEC detractors, which includes the Center for Media and Democracy. The liberal-leaning nonprofit said it had launched a protest campaign in tandem with Color of Change opposing what it said were ALEC’s efforts to deny climate change, undermine public schools and encourage laws that would require voters to present various forms of identification before voting.
Critics of the policies, which have already been implemented in several states, say that they are more likely to shut out minorities, the poor, the elderly and even college students.
Draft legislation from ALEC has also helped fan the debate over “stand your ground” laws, which have played a central role in the February shooting of unarmed Florida teen Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.
Color of Change, an African American advocacy group co-founded by James Rucker and Van Jones, issued a statement saying that the group would direct its sights at other companies associated with ALEC.
Other members of ALEC’s Enterprise Board include executives from Wal-Mart, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods, Pfizer, AT&T, UPS and ExxonMobil.