Earlier this morning it was announced that Wal-Mart, one of a handful of huge U.S. Corporate members (including Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, Wellpoint and State Farm Insurance) refusing to quit their membership with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) - finally succumbed to consumer and activist pressure and ended that membership. Wal-Mart issued this statement:
"Previously, we expressed our concerns about ALEC's decision to weigh in on issues that stray from its core mission 'to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets,'" Maggie Sans, Wal-Mart vice president of public affairs and government relations, said in a May 30 letter addressed to ALEC's national chairman and executive director.
"We feel that the divide between these activities and our purpose as a business has become too wide. To that end, we are suspending our membership in ALEC."
This followed an
announcement by Medtronics earlier this week that they had not renewed their membership in ALEC for this year...saying they actually left in 2010. However, documents obtained by Common Cause and published by PRWatch on Tuesday dispute that claim, the evidence showing:
"ALEC documents obtained and released by Common Cause list three Medtronic representatives on ALEC's Health and Human Services Task Force as of June and March 2011, as well as in October 2010. In October 2011, Medtronic posted a job opening for a Government Affairs Director that would "participate in and support corporate SGA efforts with select national bodies of state legislators, including ALEC" (emphasis added).
Medtronic's admission of non-renewal of their ALEC membership - made with untruths spilling from the cup, demonstrates how poisonous ALEC has become to corporate members and financial supporters.
Quitting ALEC is no longer sufficient as a degree if separation: these companies attempt to separate themselves even further from the conservative front group by falsely claiming they dropped out voluntarily as much as two years previously. Medtronic's claim of leaving in 2010 is clearly false, due to the documentation of their holding "three seats upon the Health and Human Services Task Force" as recently as June of last year. The additional recruitment of someone as a "Government Affairs Director" last October to serve the corporation's interests with "select national bodies of state legislators" indicates quite clearly Medtronic intended to stay with ALEC and reinforce their relationship.
Medtronic's three seats upon the H&HS Task Force cost the corporation $3,000.00 each in addition to their membership fees which run from $7,000.00 to $25,000.00 annually (depending upon the degree of influence they want within ALEC).
Maggie Sans, Wal-Mart's vice president of public affairs and government relations served as Secretary on the same H&HS Task Force. Medtronic and Wal-Mart's leaving has hopefully crippled the Health and Human Services' Task Force - with the loss of the Secretary and three task force seats becoming vacant. Maybe the H&HS Director, Christie Herrera's statements to protesters at the ALEC Protest in Charlotte earlier this month hastened the decisions of Wal-Mart to drop their membership. A person identified as Herrera made statements to the effect that those who "don't pay property taxes, have no right to expect free healthcare, public education or a right to vote".
As I noted in yesterday's diary, Breitbart's blog has run a video claiming that the Anti-ALEC Protest and Teach-in in Charlotte during the ALEC Spring Summit was a "failure" due to a low turnout. Those making this claim fail to note that immediately following the protest, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) announced they were dropping their membership. Was it the numerous conversations with the protesting teachers and students outside the Charlotte Westin that was responsible for this sudden decision?
NACSA left along with the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards which dropped their membership on May 1.
With the loss of Wal-Mart and Medtronics, the number of corporations dropping ALEC during the month of our protest now stands at four! Not a bad record for a "failed" protest of ALEC. Hopefully the abandonment of ALEC will be even greater in July as we go after them at their Annual meeting in Salt Lake City!
While the news of corporations abandoning ALEC is encouraging and rewarding to those of us who have been pursuing the cabal - we must all keep in mind that the true strength of ALEC lay with their legislative members who disseminate and ensure passage of their model legislation state by state. To date I believe the number of legislative members who have quit ALEC stands at 57 or 58. By the end of the year we have to increase that number substantially. In the absence of corporate financial support and membership ALEC is going to be looking high and low for replacement members. To do that they have to offer "something" in return for new members to have the incentive to join...that will only come through ALEC's legislative members working hard to pass their model bills to demonstrate they still have the "power and influence" necessary to advance pro-corporate legislation.
ALEC's Article X, section 10.03 "Duties of the ALEC State Chairmen" requires each State Chair to "ensure introduction of model legislation". These are the legislators responsible for introducing every piece of ALEC crap in each state. Here is ALEC's list of current State Chairmen. Take a look and if you're rep is on this list, please contact him/her and tell them you "know who they are and what they've done", urging them to drop their membership or answer to you and fellow voters in the next election.
Let's all concentrate on urging all state lawmakers to drop their ALEC memberships and return to representing their constituents instead. After all, isn't that why they were elected?