Barb Shelly of the Kansas City Star wrote a terrific column about the sudden exodus from te group. It's titled "ALEC, puppetmaster of state legislatures, finally getting pushback." In it, Shelly writes,
ALEC is a group funded by corporations and conservative activists. It beguiles conservative state lawmakers with wining and dining at annual conferences and the chance to mingle with deep-pocketed donors.
In return, lawmakers promote the group’s “model legislation,” bills aimed at things like stripping workers of protections and requiring photo identification to vote...
It’s getting harder lately for ALEC to pull strings behind the curtains. In New Jersey, the Star-Ledger newspaper figured out that a number of the education bills signed by Gov. Chris Christie bear a striking resemblance to ALEC templates...
Coca-Cola, Pepsico and Kraft Food announced this week they are severing ties with ALEC... Good for them.Their withdrawal is more symbolic than impactful; ALEC has about 300 members, including Wal-Mart, Koch Industries, AT&T, UPS and Exxon. But it’s a start. A great next step would be for voters to start demanding that state legislators show less loyalty to ALEC and more to the state and communities they are elected to serve.Want to know more about ALEC in your state? Go to the ALEC Exposed website. You'll find a trove of horrifying information. And you may be inspired to write your state representatives and ask them to quit ALEC if they're members.
