Companies are realizing the ALEC taint can hurt their profit. Republicans, Democrats and Independents don't like it when corporate lobbyists meet secretly with the politicians they've given money to. It's especially galling when those corporate lobbyists claim to be a charity.
That's why Google, Facebook, yelp and Yahoo! all announced their departure from ALEC just this week alone, even as Uber and Lyft distanced themselves from it.
As Ragan's PR Daily points out,
Study after study finds consumers are making conscious decisions to avoid doing business with bad actors and greenwashers, and to spend their money (and make their investments) in companies that are sincere about trying to do well by doing good.
Several companies are taking the new reality seriously, incorporating their social responsibility efforts into their annual reports and taking other steps to make sure the public is aware of their activities. It’s not enough yet, though, to change general public perception of corporations, which is deeply cynical in the developed world, where only 52 percent of people have a favorable view of corporations.Common Cause tells us this about International Paper's departure from ALEC:
Spokesperson Tom Ryan told Common Cause on Friday that “we no longer have a membership with ALEC” and confirmed the company also no longer funds ALEC. The depature of International Paper, which reported $29 billion in revenue last year, seems to have been recent, as the company was reported to be a member of ALEC’s Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force in 2010 and were a sponsor of ALEC’s annual conference in 2011. International Paper manufactures various paper products, and owns HammerMill Paper.Great work to all Teamsters and members of the ALEC Exposed community who helped spread the truth about ALEC!
