Wal-Mart is the latest of the high-profiles companies to leave ALEC. Pepsi, Kraft, Wendy’s, Mars, Intuit, the Gates Foundations and others departed earlier this year. But before we celebrate the power of the people and negative press, dear ones, let’s get real.
While Ms. Underpants would love to believe the boycotts, letters to the editor, media attention, and consumer outcry was the primary reason for these high profile defections from the Dark Side, let’s do what we always do when faced with an unexpected GOP change of heart: Follow the Money.
I bet you 8 to 5 the Corporate Attorneys, CFO’s, Risk Managers, and Audit Committees saw the writing on the wall. ALEC is going to lose tax exempt status. As former Congressman Edgar points out today in the Wall Street Journal, ALEC is a lobby not a charity.
As such, those fees and dues will no longer be tax deductible. Their participation in a lobbying group that doesn’t follow lobbying rules would indeed be a substantial risk.