Tipsheet

ALEC Changes Tone, Lefties Crow About "Progressive Victory"

On Tuesday, the American Legislative Exchange Council announced it was shutting down its criminality campaigns and "redoubling efforts on the economic front." This means they'll be shutting down pro-second amendment outreach and the pushes for voter ID laws, moves that come largely in response to a progressive campaign to boycott ALEC funders.

ThinkProgress, the Center for American Progress' media site, declares this a "PROGRESSIVE VICTORY." Indeed, progressives are puffing their chests and crowing about how they got big, evil corporations to bow to popular progressive pressure. Van Jones' group Color of Change was part of the coalition leading the charge against ALEC.

Not that this is a campaign of "censorship," but progressive organizations won't be happy until they put enough pressure on to completely shut down conservative advocacy organizations. Indeed, the Center for American Progress story writes that ALEC's submission "does not change the fact that ALEC will continue to push corporate-friendly conservative economic legislation." Van Jones' group said it was a "PR stunt."

Conservative organizations and conservative activists need to be able to reassure companies targeted by progressive boycotts that the boycotts won't make a meaningful financial impact. The reason progressives have gone after ALEC isn't because ALEC is particularly "extreme" or something - it's because ALEC has been successful in passing legitimate conservative legislation.

You can see groups still calling ALEC "controversial" and asking "is it enough?" For progressives, capitulations by effective conservative advocacy organizations are never enough. The organizations that fund ALEC and ALEC itself might need to learn that the hard way.