According to the Center for Media and Democracy's PR Watch,
Amazon apparently became an ALEC member in part to oppose new state taxes on online sales, but Amazon's membership dues and sponsorship grants help fund the overall ALEC agenda, which includes controversial bills like "Stand Your Ground" and voter ID as well as anti-union, anti-immigrant, and anti-environmental measures. For more on Amazon's role in ALEC and how it demonstrates the leading role that corporations play in ALEC, see Fischer's article here....
Corporations that have publicly cut ties to ALEC in recent weeks include Scantron Corporation, Kaplan Higher Education, Procter & Gamble, YUM! Brands, Blue Cross Blue Shield, American Traffic Solutions, Reed Elsevier, Arizona Public Service, Mars, Wendy's, McDonald's, Intuit, Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola. The addition of Amazon.com brings the total to 16. Four non-profits -- Lumina Foundation for Education, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), and the Gates Foundation -- and 54 state legislators have also cut ties with ALEC.Three other companies are under pressure to cut ties to ALEC: State Farm, AT&T and Johnson & Johnson.
