Amazon Is Latest to Bail Out on ALEC

Posted on May 25, 2012

Akira Ohgaki (CC BY 2.0)

Amid pressure from public advocacy groups, the online retail giant has announced that it will not renew its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council—the right-wing lobbying group that has been working behind the scenes to promote conservative legislation since the early 1970s.

The advocacy group Color of Change is leading the campaign calling for companies to quit the organization.

Other corporations that have cut ties with ALEC in recent weeks include Procter & Gamble, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Intuit, Kraft Foods, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola.

Among the businesses that remain committed supporters of the organization are drug company Pfizer and Koch Companies Public Sector, run by the bankrollers of conservative political causes, David and Charles Koch. —ARK

The Huffington Post:

The announcement was made during Amazon.com’s annual shareholders meeting in Seattle, as the hue and cry against the organization, known as ALEC, and the corporations that support it continues to rise. Outside the meeting at the Seattle Art Museum, more than 100 protesters hoisted signs and clogged the entrance. Inside, Amazon executives and lawyers took questions from shareholders, including some asking about the company’s membership in ALEC.

“This year, we’ve decided not to renew with ALEC, and it’s because of positions they’ve taken not related to our business,” Michelle Wilson, an Amazon attorney, told about 200 shareholders at the meeting, according to reports. Mary Osako, a spokeswoman for Amazon, later added: “Each year we evaluate all of our association memberships, and we decided not to renew our participation in ALEC in part because of positions that group took on issues unrelated to our business.”

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