Procter & Gamble Pulls From Right-Wing ALEC, Joining 12 Other Companies

If officials at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are superstitious, Monday was probably a pretty frightening day. The right-wing group that has helped advance voter suppression efforts lost its thirteenth major corporate back in just a few weeks and found itself facing a complaint filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

Procter & Gamble officials confirmed that they were not renewing their membership with ALEC in a statement to Color of Change, which has led a boycott against the group. Color of Change reports:

On Friday afternoon, we learned that P&G began reviewing its membership in January and recently decided not to rejoin ALEC in 2012. External Relations Manager Elizabeth Ratchford told us via email that, ‘Decisions about which memberships we retain are guided by budgetary considerations, value to the business and engagement on issues core to our ability to compete in the marketplace.’ The multinational corporation made the determination that ALEC does not help P&G compete for consumers’ loyalty and support.

The consumer goods company produces a range of home products, ranging from laundry supplies (Gain, Downy, Tide, and Bounce) to Duracell batteries, Pampers diapers, and Pringles chips.

Our sister publication, Think Progress, reports:

Procter & Gamble, a Fortune 100 company that manufactures a slew of household consumer goods, joins other blue chip companies like Coca-Cola and Kraft Foods in disassociating themselves from ALEC. P&G’s main competitor, Johnson & Johnson, has not come to the same decision, Color Of Change notes.

The good government group Common Cause filed a complaint with the IRS today contesting ALEC’s charitable tax status, arguing it is actually a lobby group getting preferential tax treatment.

ALEC has been criticized recently for touting Stand Your Ground laws similar to the one on the books in Florida, which has been credited as helping keep George Zimmerman from being arrested. Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin earlier this year, but has told officers it was in self-defense. The group ended it's task force on elections and public safety recently.

Brian Stewart is the communications manager at Campus Progress.

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