Don't Just Pressure ALEC's Sponsors, Name and Shame ALEC Legislators

But the group's most extreme backers are doubling down. A representative of the Koch Companies announced that, "Yes, we plan to continue our membership in and support of ALEC." That decision, along with indications from tobacco and drug companies that they will stick with ALEC for now, have the potential to keep the group going.

But ALEC will lose a good deal of infuence if major companies continue to respond to the call from groups such as ColorofChange to "stop supporting the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization which has worked to disenfranchise African Americans, Latinos, students, the elderly, the disabled and the poor."

That's vital to challenging the one-size-fits-all assault on lawmaking in the states. But just as the challenges to the corporate sponsors of ALEC are essential, so too are challenges to the legislators who maintain membership in the groups.

These legislators are not thinking for themselves. They are taking their cues from an inside-the-Beltway, corporate-sponsored group that effectively demands that they dismiss the will of their constituents in favor of the demands of those corporations. It's a dangerous calculus for democracy. And it is time to start asking legislators why they are answering to multinational corporations rather than hometown voters.

The Maine's Majority movement has asked legislators in that state to give up their American Legislative Exchange Council memberships: "Given what we now know about ALEC and its detrimental effect on Maine's public policy, there's no excuse for Maine legislators to continue their involvement in the organization," says Maine's Majority executive director Chris Korzen. "The fact that Coke, Pepsi and Kraft have left ALEC speaks volumes to how toxic the group has become. It's time for Maine's ALEC members to follow suit."

Maine Majority is naming and shaming Maine legislators who are allied with ALEC--identifying "known ALEC members" and urging them to "terminate their ALEC memberships."

Activists in other states can be just as bold.

The ALEC Exposed project maintains a list of legislators who are allied with ALEC. Here's the link.

Now that multinational corporations have begun to bow to grassroots pressure and agreed to end their affiliations with the American Legislative Exchange Council, it's time to demand that elected legislators Exit ALEC.