ALEC’s Sinister Plans

No one knew anything about ALEC until Trayvon Martin’s murder in Florida. It turned out that Florida’s Stand Your Ground Act was based on an ALEC model, and groups around the country from Common Cause to Color of Change started a boycott movement against companies that participated in ALEC. The boycott was effective: ALEC lost a lot of members and decided to move out of social issues and concentrate on legislation that directly affected corporate well-being — like preventing efforts to fight climate change by boycotting fossil fuel companies.

That’s what’s behind ALEC’s current push. The “Eliminate Political Boycotts Act” would require all public sector entities, including state and local police departments and universities, to include a clause in every supply contract that prohibits them from refusing to supply, buy from, or invest in private sector organizations (including, of course, ALEC members) for “political” reasons such as a poor environmental record.

So, for example, if NC Republicans were to push this latest ALEC bill through the legislature over the objections of Democrats, investment managers would no longer be able to manage state retirement plans and drop Duke Energy from ethical stock portfolios because of its retrograde environmental policies. And transportation companies throughout the state could lose state government business if they selected petroleum suppliers based on their political affiliation, for example, if they switched from Chevron, still an active ALEC member, to ExxonMobil, which has withdrawn from ALEC. The possible scenarios are virtually limitless.

It’s alarming stuff. So what can we as North Carolinians do to derail the Act or ALEC, in general?

First, voters need to put pressure on Republican legislators…letting them know that their longstanding connection to this dangerous pressure group is out in the open.

Secondly, we should exert our leverage as shareholders and customers of the companies that fund ALEC. Over the past decade, many have cut ties, but there are still plenty of household names like the Koch, Bradley, and Searles family foundations willing to plow in huge amounts of money, despite widespread criticism of the organization’s clandestine operations, controversial agenda, and lack of transparency.

Finally, we should support Common Cause, which has been pursuing a whistleblower complaint against ALEC since 2012, charging that it misuses charity laws, underreports lobbying activity, and obtains improper tax breaks for corporate funders at taxpayers’ expense. By joining Common Cause you’ll be requesting that the IRS conduct an immediate investigation of ALEC’s compliance with federal tax laws; revoke its status as a tax exempt charity; impose civil and criminal penalties; and collect unpaid back and current taxes for corporate lobbying inconsistent with its nonprofit status.

And you can join Common Cause’s effort to stop North Carolina from signing on to the Convention of the States by learning more and taking action at defendourconstitution.org.

It’s time to take the thumbs of America’s mega corporations and their Republican partners off the legislative scale.