News

Wendy's is the 6th Firm to Say It is No Longer a Member of ALEC

by Sara Jerving — April 11, 2012 - 9:17am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Corporations
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    Wendy's International, the parent company of Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburger, is the sixth corporation to say that it is no longer a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in the past week. Wendy's International sent an email to the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) this morning stating that the fast food chain had decided not to renew their membership at the end of 2011. CMD
    launched ALEC Exposed and named Wendy's as corporate member in July 2011.

    Wendy's Dumps ALECThis announcement comes in light of a recent controversy surrounding ALEC's link to Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, which may protect the killer of 17-year old Trayvon Martin, and ALEC's association with voter ID laws and other extreme legislative proposals. McDonalds, Kraft Foods, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Intuit have all announced within the past week that they have decided to not renew their membership with ALEC and the Gates Foundation has announced it will not continue to fund ALEC.

    Last year the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) launched ALECexposed.org, where it made available over 800 "model" ALEC bills which shed light on a radical right-wing agenda that includes corporate tax breaks, the privatization of public education, voter suppression, anti-immigrant bills, climate change denial, among other initiatives. Since this launch, CMD has been analyzing these bills and targeting the corporate members of ALEC to urge them to end their membership with the organization. Yesterday, CMD, and partner organizations, urged McDonalds, State Farm and Johnson & Johnson to stop funding ALEC. McDonalds publicly announced later that afternoon that they would not continue funding ALEC.

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    Silencing the voices of opposition.

    Submitted by Gagged (not verified) on April 12, 2012 - 7:07pm.

    I would expect this behavior in Bejing or PyongYang. Soros funded groups like your's, Media Matters, Color of Change, MoveOn.org, CMD and others use intimidation/blackmail to silence support for pro-business groups. Choice in education, elections that don't resemble those in Moscow and legal immigration are things that made this country great, including being innocent until proven guilty (Zimmerman). You commies should be ashamed!

    RE alec

    Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 12, 2012 - 3:05pm.

    that is wonderful news
    My only comment DON'T STOP INFORMING PEOPLE TELL EVERYONE AND SEND OUT
    ALL THIS INFO TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW
    KEEP ON THEM
    SENDINFG LOVE

    WE CAN DO IT

    ALEC & Koch Brothers

    Submitted by Fred Sayre (not verified) on April 12, 2012 - 1:50pm.

    ALEC and the Koch brothers would have been on the front page of the Daily Worker newspaper back in the 1950s. The paper would have extolled their efforts to change the face of democracy using the legislative process to benefit corporate America and the 1% at the expense of the 99%.

    The bills that are drafted in secret by lobbyists and legislators from around the country and then taken back to the respective states where they are submitted for approval. To my way of thinking this is out and out subversion of our legislative process.

    By the way the above mentioned newspaper was the voice of the American Communist Party.

    Typo or not- 2011 or 2012

    Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 12, 2012 - 12:59pm.

    Above you post "Wendy's International sent an email to the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) this morning stating that the fast food chain had decided not to renew their membership at the end of 2011." How can it say this yesterday and 2011 was a few months ago. Is this a typo or does it mean 2012 which means it will be after the Election and rather late I would say. Or does it mean the list of ALEC sponsors is not up to date. That is unsettling though so much is behind closed doors, it is any wonder we can figure out what goes on.

    2011 or 2012

    Submitted by Lisa Graves on April 13, 2012 - 11:33am.

    When we launched ALECexposed, we documented the list of corporations who were then a funder or member of ALEC along with companies that were previously identified as having funded ALEC. Wendy's gave ALEC money in 2011, but did not give money to ALEC in the past 13 weeks for membership this year. Their statement did not indicate precisely when they made that decision or when they previously paid dues to ALEC (that is, when their renewal was due or expected). Companies that are not members of ALEC can still attend ALEC events at the non-member rate, but companies that are not members of ALEC task forces cannot vote on "model" bills. Lisa

    do you have a list of N R A corporate partners?

    Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 13, 2012 - 12:40pm.

    The N R A is like the AAA of the gun world. What about exposing their corporate ties?

    Did they also drop NRA?

    Submitted by ChefJenG (not verified) on April 12, 2012 - 9:25am.

    Last I checked, National Restaurant Association is a member of ALEC. I'm glad Wendy's, McDonald's, Coke, & Pepsi all "dropped" but if they are still a part of NRA, they still have a foot in the door. Real change would be legislators dropping ALEC.

    Wendy's Dumps ALEC...Great News.

    Submitted by Bob Sloan (not verified) on April 11, 2012 - 1:10pm.

    CMD ROCKS!...5 down and 295+ to go. At this rate by Christmas the only corporate member that will be left supporting ALEC is key funder, Koch Industries.

    Kochs start a new secret organization?

    Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 12, 2012 - 10:24am.

    What is to prevent the Kochs, CCA, the NRA, etc. from forming another, even more secretive organization?

    Secret

    Submitted by Gagged (not verified) on April 12, 2012 - 7:14pm.

    Sh-h-h-h-h! I see the moderators don't like dissenting opinions here. Figures.