After years of ALEC's coordinated attempt to ram voter-suppression and union-busting bills through states like Wisconsin, they accused progressives of running a "well-funded, expertly coordinated intimidation campaign...against corporate members of the organization." _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ At ColorOfChange made huge news last week by pressuring Coke to no longer fund ALEC. And after a day of massive pressure got the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to pledge no future ALEC funding! __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ McDonald's, Wendy's, Intuit, Kraft, and Pepsi have now made similar announcements -- and we're working with ColorOfChange to pressure AT&T, Johnson & Johnson, and others. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ""This morning, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) issued a response ( http://www.alec.org/2012/04/alec-responds/ ) to the decisions by The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, McDonald's, Kraft Foods and Intuit to leave the organization in the face of increasing public exposure of – and opposition to – the extreme agenda ALEC has pushed through state legislatures across the country. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ People For the American Way Foundation President Michael Keegan issued the following statement: .................. “ALEC’s statement would have us believe that their policies promote ‘economic vitality,’ but it is difficult to see how policies that disenfranchise thousands of voters, create irrational gun laws like ‘Shoot First,’ ( lol...Stand Your Ground laws ) promote fast tracks to prison for immigrants and endanger our health and safety by gutting environmental protections make any American better off. The true economic consequences of the ALEC agenda – which includes privatizing public resources such as schools and prisons, dismantling unions and stacking the deck against average people who try to seek justice in a court of law – is that wealthy special interests get even richer while the rest of us are left in the dust. ALEC believes in job creation – unless job elimination is better for the bottom line of a few corporations. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “Americans won't forget that corporate representatives are bypassing the democratic process by drafting these policies in secret and using ALEC to help pass them into law. It’s no wonder that the American people disapprove, and businesses that depend on the American people have no reason to advance such a harmful agenda. We commend the leadership of the companies who have left ALEC thus far.”" ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ But let's be clear. This is not intimidation. This is regular people rising up to take back our democracy. ALEC's voter-suppression and union-busting agenda simply can't withstand public scrutiny. ................ Thanks for being a bold progressive. -- Adam Green, Amanda Johnson, James Ploeser, Andrew Mayersohn, Karen Oelschlaeger, and the PCCC team _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ http://boldprogressives.org/

Glad to hear people are pressuring advertisers to stop funding them if they are going to keep on with voter suppression and trying to stop collective bargaining rights. Employers can not stay in biz if they don't make enough profit and unions can sometimes overdo it but on the other hand employers can not stay in biz if they don't have customers so they need people that can afford to purchase. Needs to be a balance here not all one way or the other.