10 Corrupt Corporations Who Have ALEC’s Dirt On Their Hands

Wikipedia describes the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) as “a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives that drafts and shares model state-level legislation for distribution among state governments in the United States.” 

In easy terms, a corporate bill mill and a free-market lobbying group that helps corporations write fill-in-the-blank laws for congresspeople to sign and pass. The much-maligned group is widely infamous for its role in the prison-industrial complex, voter disenfranchisement, privatizing education, sabotage of the Affordable Care Act, the NRA, pollution and anti-environmental initiatives.

Although, the group’s corporate partners have undergone a mass exodus, here is a list of some of the most corrupt corporations that are still in cahoots with ALEC:

1. Anheuser-Busch

Anheuser-Busch, which operates 12 breweries in the United States, has been ALEC’s corporate funder; a Member of ALEC’s Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force— responsible for numerous anti-worker and union-busting initiatives; and ALEC’s Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force.

The Anheuser-Busch political action committee gave $1,081,374 to federal candidates in the 2006 election – 40% to Democrats, 60% to Republicans. The company spent another $3,240,000 for lobbying in 2006. The brewing giant, ‘committed to fighting alcohol abuse’, spent two years lobbying members of Congress and federal agencies to oppose a bill that would combat underage drinking.

2. AT&T 3. Comcast 4. Time Warner Cable

AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association are all members of ALEC, which lobbies against community broadband and open internet protections. AT&T, Comcast and Time Warner Cable use ALEC to help them maintain oligarchical control over internet and television utilities. They’re also responsible for throttling your download speeds on certain websites, and making it impossible for you to switch services because there are no other available competitors in the area.

The fact that ALEC has been a key avenue for the big telecom agenda is little wonder, given that AT&T’s head of legislative strategy, Bill Leahy, sits on the ALEC Private Enterprise Board, and the current president of ALEC, Ron Scheberle, was previously a lobbyist for Verizon. It is not surprising that ALEC has a role to play in limiting broadband access and helping big telecom companies avoid regulation.

5. ExxonMobil

Despite the recent exit of BP and Occidental Petroleum, ALEC still enjoys support from large oil and energy companies, including ExxonMobil, Shell Oil, Peabody Energy, Chevron, Cheniere Energy, Dominion Resources, Duke Energy, and the American Petroleum Institute.

Over the years, Exxon channeled about $30 million to researchers and activist groups promoting disinformation about global warming; however, following pressure from shareholder activists, in 2007, the oil company pledged to stop such funding. But since 2007, Exxon has given $1.87 million to Republicans in Congress who deny climate change, and have given an additional $454,000 to ALEC to block efforts to fight climate change.

ALEC, an ultra-conservative lobby group, has hosted seminars promoting the long-discredited idea that rising carbon dioxide emissions are the “elixir of life”, and was behind legislation banning state planners in North Carolina from considering future sea-level rise. For decades, the corporate lobbying group has worked to block action on climate change. According to reports, this was achieved by drafting bills for state legislatures aimed at dismantling environmental regulations.

6. FedEx 7. UPS

UPS’ vice president of corporate public affairs is the second vice chairman of ALEC’s private enterprise advisory board. Meanwhile, FedEx has at least one lobbyist on the executive committee for ALEC’s Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development Task Force. ALEC, on its part, writes, distributes and lobbies for anti-union and anti-worker laws such as “Right to Work”, along with laws that attack teachers’ rights to join unions, and laws that attack workers’ safety.

United Parcel Service delivers only when and where it can make a profit. Every year, it pays the USPS to deliver 100 million to 300 million parcels to less profitable locations. FedEx also delivers when and where it is profitable and uses the USPS for 30.4% of its ground mail delivery.

ALEC has been calling for the total privatization of the USPS. The end of the USPS would mean more business for its two main privately owned competitors – Federal Express (FedEx) and the United Parcel Service (UPS).

8.Pfizer and 9. Novartis

Pharmaceutical corporations such as Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Bayer, and Celgene are all members of ALEC—along with their corporate trade group PhRMA.

Both Pfizer and Novartis benefited greatly from ALEC’s Data Quality Act, which made it legal for corporations to validate and regulate their own scientific data (thus enabling them to get away with using cheaper chemical shortcuts in products that cause damage to both human beings and the environment). They’ve also played a major part in fighting against health care reforms and in protecting pharmaceutical companies from liability lawsuits.

10. The Wall Street Journal

Yes, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, which owns Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and many broadcast licenses, is an ALEC member.

The ALEC Communications and Technology Task Force, on which News Corporation has a seat, has long had a far-reaching agenda to deregulate the communications industry and has opposed key protections of the public’s airwaves for ordinary citizens, such as “net neutrality” and the “Fairness Doctrine”. Though it may be acceptable for media companies to have corporate relationships, it is not acceptable when they disguise ALEC propaganda as independent editorial content.

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