Watching hundreds of thousands of marchers calling for action on Climate Change last Sunday warmed the cockles of this activist’s heart. I was canvassing for the upcoming general election but my marching shoes were itching for the streets of New York.
The bobbleheads on the Sunday Morning News (ha!) Shows ignored the gathering because, let’s face it, money rules the ratings…and speaking of money, ALEC is going to have less of it after this week:
Facebook is set to become the latest tech company to end its support for a controversial rightwing lobby group that works against climate change legislation.
The social media company has been a funder of American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), which shapes legislation at state level across the US. But late on Tuesday the company confirmed to the Guardian it was quitting, following Google, which cut ties this week, and Microsoft, which left in August.
Yelp, the consumer review website, also said that quit Alec.
As a resident of ALEC’s petri dish – Arizona – I’m well-aquainted with their legislative shenanigans. Something recently changed, though – the boycotts called in response to SB1070 and HB2281 worked.
- Jan Brewer vetoed the anti-gay SB1062 after a number of Chamber of Commerce groups came out in opposition to it. The pressure even caused three of the bottom-feeder sponsors of the bill to call for a mulligan and withdrew their support.
- Ethnic Studies Ban masterminds John Huppenthal and Tom Horne both lost their primary races as incumbents for Superintendent of Public Instruction and Attorney General, respectively
- The state’s Chamber of Commerce and Phoenix-based AzRepublic(an) endorsed the Democratic candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction, David Garcia, for the general election.
Arizona’s example is that it will take a multi-front effort to rid the political system of ignorant, anti-science, anti-consumer influences such as ALEC.
The state Democratic candidate, Fred Duval, is even polling strong for the November matchup. Canvassing, phone-banking, putting pressure on the status-quo via their traditional allies in the business community, and activists refusing to let an issue go despite being ignored by the media – all of this is necessary to turn the tide.
What’s going on in your state?
