Gates Foundation Will Withdraw Support for ALEC Nonprofit

[jaxx]

Gates Foundation Will Withdraw Support for ALEC Nonprofit

By Janie Lorber
Roll Call Staff
April 9, 2012, 5:47 p.m.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation today became the latest backer to withdraw financial support for the American Legislative Exchange Council.

A foundation spokesman told Roll Call that it does not plan to make future grants to the conservative nonprofit, which has come under fire from progressive activists for its support of voter identification laws and other contentious measures.

<..> Last week, Kraft Foods Inc., Coca-Cola Co. and Intuit Inc. each said they would withdraw support. The announcements came after months of behind-the-scenes pressure from another liberal group, Color of Change, an African-American advocacy group.

Color of Change went public today with demands that AT&T Corp., one of ALEC’s 21 corporate board members, also sever ties with the organization. Over the past year, the group has reached out to 15 consumer product companies that back ALEC, highlighting the organization’s connections to voter ID laws passed in at least a half-dozen states.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/gates_found...ml?pos=hln

Good, now more need to step up.

[Peacetrain]

good very good!!

[Hekate]

Perhaps, ultimately, Trayvon will not have died in vain.

[SeattleGirl]

(04-09-2012 09:18 PM)Hekate Wrote:  Perhaps, ultimately, Trayvon will not have died in vain.

That is my thought too, Hekate. I was just thinking the other day that in the very ugly days of the 60's, especially in Birmingham when Bull Connor was in charge. A lot of people did not know about (or ignored) the ugliness of whites against blacks, until they saw footage of the dogs and fire hoses being turned on black people. Things started to change after that.

Unfortunately, they haven't changed enough, but that was a touch stone in this nation's history. Perhaps Trayvon's death will be another one of those turning points.

At least, I hope so.

[Velleity]

No, Trayvon will not have died in vain when this is all said and done. These license to kill laws are in for a rough ride getting the kind of scrutiny that they should have had before they were enacted.

[jaxx]

McDonald's Joins Coke, Pepsi, Kraft as a Dropout from #ALEC Legislative Exchange Council http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/10...f=politics #labor #ows #tcot