ALEC loses 4th corporation, Intuit!

[DippyDem]

Software company Intuit, the makers of programs such as Turbo Tax and Quicken, announced today that they will join Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Kraft as the fourth company to end their partnership with the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council this week.
The Center for Media & Democracy, which launched ALECexposed.com last year, broke the news:
A stampede seems to be on the way as more and more groups break ties and dump ALEC. Intuit, Inc. (maker of Quicken and QuickBooks accounting software) told the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) that Intuit also decided not to renew its membership after it expired in 2011.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/04/06/459973/intuit-is-now-the-fourth-company-to-drop-voter-suppression-group-alec/

ALEC is becoming radioactive to corporations! Who's next?

[freshwest]

1. We need DUers to get on this! They're destroying every state.

I wish I could find a full list of all the companies that have supported ALEC, just like the boycott lists on Rush.

There is a good deal of information from cliffordu's thread, which is not a duplicate of yours:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=525427

And leads to this informative website here:

http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed

There was a thread a while back with how to find the ALEC offices in every state. We have to end this corporate governance group, or we won't have anything left. I can't find it but here is a website:

http://www.pfaw.org/rww-in-focus/alec-the-voice-of-corporate-special-interests-state-legislatures

And this thread was started by Galraedia that goes into how they are stealing public lands:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101489586

There was a list of products to boycott from Koch Industries a while back. Does anyone have a list with the names of sponsors that can be pressured to quit supporting ALEC?

[DippyDem]

2. Yes the list was supplied by DUer hedgehog

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/101490323 post#15

[freshwest]

4. Okay I hadn't gone down that far. I'm copying the list that he refers to from this link:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ALEC_Corporations

He provided the link to contact these sponsors, too:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/632/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=10002

Thanks for telling me where it is...

[Zorra]

6. Occupy ALEC - Shut Down ALEC sites/livestreams

Good continuous sources of info

http://www.shutdownalec.org/?hash=ALECexposed

http://www.shutdownalec.org/?hash=occupyalec

Here's our Occupy Phoenix national call for action against ALEC from November 22 of last year

Occupy Phoenix to Protest at ALEC Summit on November 30

We will no longer remain passive while our country is sold to the highest bidder.

Phoenix, AZ 11/22/11 — On November 30, Occupy Phoenix will lead a protest at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) States & Nations Policy Summit at Scottsdale’s Westin Kierland Hotel. The 99% will be joined by members of other local groups and Occupiers from other cities as they answer a national call for action against this heinous organization.

The protests shine a light on the corporate takeover of state legislatures. Via ALEC, corporations hand legislators changes to laws that directly benefit their bottom line, such as Arizona’s notorious SB 1070. Currently 35 AZ State Representatives and 15 AZ Senators have ties to the organization. Recently recalled Senate President Russell Pearce is a member of ALEC’s Public Safety and Elections Task Force Executive Committees.

ALEC is at the core of what is wrong with our political system today. This organization promotes and enacts the sale of local and national legislation. We will no longer remain passive while our country is sold to the highest bidder.

http://occupyphx.org/news/pressrelease11222011/

After the show

Today, hundreds of occupiers and protesters came out to Occupy ALEC at the Kierland Resort where the annual ALEC conference was occurring. It didn’t take long for the riot police lining the blockades to confront protesters with rubber bullets and pepper spray. While most members of the sprayed resisters were irritated but unharmed, Tohono O’odham David Ortega, veteran and elder, suffered a stroke after being pepper sprayed in the face by the riot police. By the afternoon, dozens of people were pepper sprayed point blank and seven or eight protesters were arrested.

More news can be found here, here, here, and here!

Video update below:

http://occupyphx.org/news/media/from-occupy-alec/

☮ccupy

[freshwest]

8. Wow, had not heard of this. That was terrible about the elder.

There was a thread about OWS and some teabaggers demonstrating together this year, somewhere. Thanks.

[Zorra]

10. He was released from the hospital a few days later.

I've only ever seen one teabagger type at an Occupy and/or ALEC event, and he was counter protesting.

There was a lot of support from indigenous allies. ALEC is pure greed that destroys the planet, the *unnatural* natural enemy of American Indians.


TEMPE, AZ — Indigenous Dine’ (Navajo) and O’odham elders and supporters are taking direct action by occupying Salt River Project (SRP) headquarters today at 10am. This action is occurring while the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) holds their “States & Nation Policy Summit” in Scottsdale, AZ. SRP is on ALEC’s corporate board.
---
“…ALEC, acting in the corporate interests of SRP & Peabody Energy, continues policies & operations that are not only devastating whole communities and ecosystems, but greatly de-stabilizing our planet’s climate for the profit of a few, the so-called 1%.” stated Benally.

http://www.indigenousaction.org/indigenous-elders-supporters-occupy-alec-member-salt-river-project-headquarters/

[freshwest]

11. The indigenous people were slaughtered because they had a different world view, opposite to this.

Racism and religion were used to keep the Europeans from rebelling against their own rulers, because if they'd taken the time to learn from the indigenous people, they would have seen they had the wisdom needed to truly be free and independent. The tea party is an example of failure, never getting real.

In many places the indigenous peoples are being co-opted to continue the exploitation and destruction of what gives us life. There is a spiritual lesson here that those who blindly follow diversions to fight for inedible paper and ALEC may never learn. Thanks for showing me the tribes are still active and showing the way.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Good

This will continue as more and more leave, power will diminish. Cornered animals and all that.

[jerseyjack]

5. Great article in Newark, NJ Star-Ledger about ALEC in N.J.

Google: nj.com

in search bar, ALEC.

Please check which representatives in your state are members of this slime organization.

[crunch60]

7. ALEC will strip you of work place protection if these laws pass. Please read and pass around

One of its prime functions is to draft business-friendly “model legislation” that is then disseminated to state legislators around the country to be introduced and enacted. When you see a spate of similar bills suddenly pop up almost simultaneously in legislatures around the country, ALEC is almost always behind it.

For example, an increasing number of businesses are trying to get around minimum-wage, workers’ comp and overtime requirements by reclassifying their employees as “franchisees” — independent contractors with a business relationship to the larger company.

It’s a particularly popular approach in the janitorial-services industry. Instead of thousands of janitors on its payroll, a company will have thousands of “independent contractors” who supposedly operate as franchisees. Suddenly, none of the workplace laws apply, and workers are stripped of most of the legal protections they would otherwise enjoy.

ALEC is now championing passage of state laws that would make it hard if not impossible to legally challenge claims that workers are “independent contractors” or franchisees. Eearlier this year, with passage of House Bill 548, Georgia became the first state in the country to pass ALEC-drafted legislation on the issue, much to the glee of the International Franchise Association.

http://hockeybroads.com/threads/31380-I-ll-take-I-m-a-lobbyist-sock-puppet-for-200-000-Alec

[Snarkoleptic]

9. Take action against ALEC here...

http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/alec/?source=coc_website

[WillyT]

12. Woo Hoo !!! - K & R !!!

[calimary]

13. Lots of TERRIFIC links in here. Excellent research thread!

Well worth bookmarking!