The corporations behind ALEC « progressivetoo

“Founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich and other conservative activists frustrated by recent electoral setbacks, ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) is a critical arm of the right-wing network of policy shops that, with infusions of corporate cash, has evolved to shape American politics. Inspired by Milton Friedman’s call for conservatives to “develop alternatives to existing policies [and] keep them alive and available,” ALEC’s model legislation reflects long-term goals: downsizing government, removing regulations on corporations and making it harder to hold the economically and politically powerful to account.

Corporate donors retain veto power over the language, which is developed by the secretive task forces. The task forces cover issues from education to health policy. ALEC’s priorities for the 2011 session included bills to privatize education, break unions, deregulate major industries, pass voter ID laws and more. In states across the country they succeeded, with stacks of new laws signed by GOP governors like Ohio’s John Kasich and Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, both ALEC alums.

The details of ALEC’s model bills have been available only to the group’s 2,000 legislative and 300 corporate members. But thanks to a leak to Aliya Rahman, an Ohio-based activist who helped organize protests at ALEC’s Spring Task Force meeting in Cincinnati, The Nation has obtained more than 800 documents representing decades of model legislation.” – The Nation

As of 2011, the following companies are listed as the corporate board for ALEC:

CenterPoint 360

Altria Group

American Bail Coalition

AT&T

Bayer Corp.

Coca-Cola Company

Diageo

Energy Future Holdings

ExxonMobile

Gaxo SmithKline

Intuit, Inc.

Johnson & Johnson

Koch Companies Public Sector

Kraft Food, Inc.

Peabody Energy

Pfizer, Inc.

PhRMA

Reed Elsevier, Inc.

Reynolds American

Salt River Project

State Farm Insurance Co.

United Parcel Service

Wal-Mart Stores

ALEC is also backed by these companies:

American Express Company

Bank of America

BP America, Inc.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association

Cargill, Inc.

Chevron Corp.

Chrysler Corp.

Comcast

Corrections Corporation of America

DuPont

Enron

FedEx

Fidelity Investments

Fruit of the Loom

GEICO

General Electric Medical Systems

General Motors Corporation

Humana Corporation

International Paper

Koch Industries

Long Term Care, Inc.

McDonald’s Corporation

Merck, Sharp and Dohme

Microsoft Corporation

Miller Brewing Company

Motorola, Inc.

Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Nationwide Insurance

Novartis

Navistar

Phillips Petroleum Company

Pinnacle West Capital

Sarah Lee Corporation

Shell Oil Company

Sprint

State Farm Insurance Co.

Texaco, Inc.

The Boeing Corporation

Union Pacific Corporation

Verizon Communications, Inc.

Wackenhut Corrections

Washington Times

Zurich Insurance

Click here for a complete list of ALEC’s companies, trade organizations and non-profits