Jun 14, 2012
ALEC Wants Lobbyists (And You) To Help Rearrange The Deck Chairs On The Titanic
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the corporate front group responsible for pushing voter ID and Stand Your Ground laws in states across the country, is on the run. Nearly two dozen major corporations (including Johnson & Johnson, yesterday) have been persuaded to cut ties with ALEC.
ALEC is fighting back — and the group recently launched a website to encourage not just people, but powerful corporations and lawmakers, to stand with them.
IStandWithALEC.com is apparently a project of Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). The site also lists the Braynard Group as having “designed and develop” the website. This consulting firm is based in Arlington, Virginia; its online portfolio lists other astroturf projects it has worked on. In the past, it’s worked for corporate fronts like the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity and a “Stop eTaxes” website dedicated to protecting the Amazon tax loophole. Curiously, it has also worked for the Immigration Policy Center, which advocates for more lenient immigration policies, certainly not in line with the conservative ideology ALEC espouses.
To read this article about rats deserting a sinking ship–assuming that you buy into these “desertions” of ALEC, please click here
Jun 14, 2012 @ 18:50:06
Don’t believe for a second that Johnson & Johnson participated in ALEC meetings and never heard a word about Voter ID laws or immigration laws, or women’s health laws, or any number of other radical right wing model legislation. I can’t prove this because J&J’s PR department is not taking questions on this subject and I wasn’t allowed into any of the ALEC meetings. But none of the photos and videos we have of J&J members at ALEC meetings—in social situations or in task force meetings–show them wearing blinders and ear plugs.
So what exactly did Johnson & Johnson – and the other insurgents– do to get their “get out of jail free card” from Color of Change, MSNBC and Current TV commentators, national public interest groups like Common Cause, and the written press?
Are they making any sort of amends for the ALEC written model legislation they voted for? No.
Are they making any sort of restitution to those directly hurt by model legislation that ALEC passed? No.
Did they make any apologies for what they did? No.
Are they encouraging legislatures not to pass these hateful bills? No.
Are they now doing anything to help black voters register to vote? Again, No.
J&J issued a statement that said it does not “condone legislative proposals that could serve, even inadvertently, to limit the rights or impact the safety of any individual.”
So apparently their involvement in pay-to-play influence peddling is okay, just not supporting radical right wing laws—at least not any longer now that they have been identified and caught in the crosshairs of public opinion. What do you say about that Jack Abramoff?