Two more groups have announced they're ending support of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
Mars Inc. is one of the corporations calling it quits. Ironically, one of Mars' products is Skittles, the candy Trayvon Martin went to the the store to get the night George Zimmerman killed him. Zimmerman's defense at the time was of course Florida's Stand Your Ground law, a product of the ALEC legislation mill.
Here's Mars Inc.'s statment, released by Color of Change.
Earlier this year, Mars, Incorporated reviewed all of its trade associations and sponsorships and decided not to renew the ALEC membership in 2012. In the past, we attended the ALEC annual meeting to create awareness of our positive economic impact and job creation in the communities where we operate. At no point was Mars ever involved in ALEC’s policymaking or Private Enterprise Board.
The second organization leaving ALEC is Arizona Public Service, Arizona's
largest energy company.
“We did an assessment of the organizations that we belong to and the value that they bring to our company, to our customers and our shareholders. And ALEC was one of the organizations that we were not receiving a commensurate amount of value for,” [lobbyist Jessica] Pacheco said. “We have been working very diligently toward certain cost-cutting goals. And that means that we have less to spend on organizations and memberships, and we feel those dollars are better spent supporting organizations here in Arizona.”
A second energy company in Arizona, Salt River Project, is considering leaving as well, according to their lobbyist Russell Smoldon.
“You have to consider it, considering all of the negative press that’s out there,” Smoldon said. “We’re looking at everything at the moment, trying to figure out what want to do, just trying not to be too quick to jump into the fray, so to speak.”
Arizona has been
very fertile ground for ALEC, with something like half of the state's legislators belonging to the organization, and being happy to rubber stamp ALEC's agenda. Which means that
Arizona activists have a lot to talk about with the media. This is attention Arizona companies, even energy companies, don't seem to welcome.
Now that ALEC's extreme, far-right agenda has been exposed (by, as they claim "a well-funded, expertly coordinated intimidation campaign," snort) more and more companies and organizations are realizing that's not something they want to be publicly associated with. It's about time.