Dude, You're Getting Dumped: Dell Computers is 20th Corporation to Dump ALEC

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Dell Computers confirmed today that they will not be renewing their membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council Education (ALEC). Dell, whose ads in the early 2000s included the slogan "Dude, You're Getting a Dell," was a member of the ALEC Education Task Force and is the twentieth corporate member (and the twenty-fourth private sector member) to drop their ALEC membership in recent months.

"Dell makes it a practice to review our memberships each year. We reviewed the value of our participation in the Education committee and decided that we will not be renewing our membership with ALEC next month. We provided our feedback to ALEC a few weeks ago when we told them we were not renewing," said Dell representative Deborah Albers in an email obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy.

The ALEC Education Task Force promotes privatization of public schools and online education.

Dell's departure comes on the heels of Johnson & Johnson and Wal-Mart dropping their ALEC membership. Both corporations were longtime ALEC members that had a representative on ALEC's governing Private Enterprise Board.

Other corporations that have publicly cut ties to ALEC in recent months include Medtronic, Amazon.com, Scantron Corporation, Kaplan Higher Education, Procter & Gamble, YUM! Brands, Blue Cross Blue Shield, American Traffic Solutions, Reed Elsevier, Arizona Public Service, Mars, Wendy's, McDonald's, Intuit, Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola. Four non-profits -- Lumina Foundation for Education, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), and the Gates Foundation -- and 55 state legislators have also cut ties with ALEC.

Color of Change, along with CMD, Common Cause, People for the American Way, and others are now focusing on asking State Farm and AT&T to cut ties with ALEC.