ALEC's Response to Corporate Exodus Hides Their Real Agenda

This morning, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) issued a response 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,' 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."