ALEC is the acronym for the innocent-sounding American Legislative Exchange Council and is responsible for producing some of the most extreme far right state and federal legislation, from Stand Your Ground gun laws and voter ID laws that discriminate against people of color, to laws against reproductive rights, union organizing, and the right to peaceful protest.

ALEC is funded by major corporations who pay top dollar for direct access to legislators who turn out "ALEC model bills" that enrich corporations and hurt the rest of us.  And up until recently have been able to operate from the shadows, quietly pulling the strings to advance their rightwing policies.  But who exactly is writing these laws?

ALEC is funded by big corporate interests, but by the time ALEC passes their draft laws along to legislators to implement, ALEC has generally removed its fingerprints -- not to mention the fingerprints of the industries themselves -- so it appears as if the legislators are introducing the bills independently.

Although the industries don’t sign their names to the bills, we do know which corporations fund ALEC, and which -- mainly due to public pressure -- have dropped out.

Organizations like Common Cause have begun to expose ALEC for what it is and put pressure on corporations to cut their ties with it.  Corporations don't want to have their names publicly associated with ALEC's overwhelmingly unpopular and extreme agenda so the pressure is beginning to be effective.   Major corporations like AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, Pfizer, Google and Coca-Cola - among others - have severed their ties with ALEC.

But ALEC has by no means lost it's support.  Many companies still pay big bucks for the legislative influence it buys them.  That influence is recognizable in the current state of affairs in our state and federal governments.  For example - the Speaker of the U.S. House is a member.  Does that tell you something?

WE THE PEOPLE MUST FIGHT TO TAKE OUR DEMOCRACY BACK!