Google has joined the long list of major corporations planning to end financial support for the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization much beloved by Republican state legislators for their subsidized junkets from which they bring back cookie-cutter legislation on the wish list of people like the Koch brothers.
In talking about the decision on the Diane Rehm show, Google co-founder Eric Schmidt called ALEC liars.
“Well, the company has a very strong view that we should make decisions in politics based on facts — what a shock. And the facts of climate change are not in question anymore. Everyone understands climate change is occurring and the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place. And so we should not be aligned with such people — they’re just, they’re just literally lying,” said Schmidt, about ALEC.
The decision was hailed by Stand UP to ALEC, a group fighting the organization’s influence peddling.
“Hundreds of thousands of Americans and over 50 organizations have asked Google to end their support for ALEC’s dangerous and anti-democratic tactics,” said Brad Bauman, a spokesperson for Stand Up to ALEC. “ALEC takes state politicians on lavish vacations to five-star resorts with corporate lobbyists where they dream up bad laws that benefit millionaires and billionaires, not the people who elected them.”
Over the past two years over 80 corporations and at least 400 state legislators have dropped their membership.
National Journal said a date hasn’t been fixed for Google’s departure.