Right-wing public policy group American Legislative Exchange Council has lost its support from GM and Walgreens as well as a host of other companies, due to its recent support of the “stand your ground” gun laws and voter ID requirements. The Huffington Post reports:
The list of major corporations severing ties with right-wing public policy group American Legislative Exchange Council continues to grow with Thursday’s announcement that General Motors and Walgreen Co. have dropped their memberships, according to reports.
ALEC, which engineered or supported controversial “stand your ground” gun laws and sweeping voter ID requirements that threaten to disenfranchise minority voters, has come under increasing scrutiny by civil rights organizations since the killing of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in February highlighted how the group strayed from its original pro-business agenda.
“We routinely evaluate our support for a variety of organizations,” said Greg Martin, a GM spokesman, according to Bloomberg. “As such, we have decided to discontinue our support and funding of ALEC.”
“We recently informed ALEC that, effective immediately, Walgreen Co. will not be renewing its membership in their organization,” said James Graham, a spokesman for the drug store chain.
In recent weeks, Best Buy and CVS Caremark also cut ties with ALEC. A CVS spokeswoman said on July 10 that the company had closely been following issues surrounding ALEC and “have heard from numerous stakeholders expressing their views.”
Click here for the full story.