American Legislative Exchange Council

In reading the previous reviews, it is clear this organization threatens the extreme, radical left. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) supports U.S. Constitutional founding principles of free markets, state's rights, and protections to assure limited federal government overreach. Those of us who fervently support individual and state's rights under the Constitution are neither extremists nor fringe. However, most conservatives are quiet, hardworking, family oriented individuals. We believe in liberty, personal responsibility, structure, and the rule of law (which includes the process of establishing, enacting, and enforcing our laws). Organizations such as ALEC perform the necessary task of holding the federal government to its constitutional restrictions and assuring the state’s rights.

In response to CautiousDonor, from the IRS…
“A tax-exempt organization is generally not required to disclose publicly the names or addresses of its contributors set forth on its annual return, including Schedule B (Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-PF). The regulations specifically exclude the name and address of any contributor to the organization from the definition of disclosable documents.”

Although 501(c)(3)s are required to REPORT donor information by filing a Schedule B with the IRS, they are NOT required to PUBLISH the information to the public. So, your suggestion of wrongdoing or secrecy by ALEC could be due to ignorance or laziness. However, it is probably more accurately a purposeful attempt to deceive.

One last comment. It seems rather dishonest to rate a non-profit 501(c)(3) negatively based solely on a difference of ideology and public policy debates. The rating should be reflective of the organization’s use of donor funds. If you did not donate because you assume you completely disagree with ALEC, then you have no legitimate reason to rate the organization.

Just keeping it clear and real.

This groups crafts extreme right-wing cookie cutter legislation behind closed doors and works very hard to get states to enact these laws. Very disappointing that state legislators participate in this

ALEC is a secretive organization of corporations and legislators that is involved in creating and distributing model legislation such as the controversial Stand Your Ground law and voter ID laws. It is very difficult to pin down the corporations that belong to ALEC. On page 3, line 2 of the main part for their 2011 Form 990, they check "Yes" that they are required to file Schedule B, Schedule of Contributors, but there is no Schedule B when I click to see that document from the Guidestar website. Did ALEC not file it? Or is it being redacted, and if so, by whom, and for what reason? As a 501(c)(3) organization, ALEC is required to publish its list of contributors, and I expected to find that list in their Form 990.

After researching ALEC for some weeks, it has become apparent that they are the extreme conservative group behind the voter suppression and anti-collective bargaining legislative passed through some state governing bodies in the last year. Basically it is a "Pay to Play" scheme in which corporate members spend lots of cash for membership and sponsorship positions that give them direct access to sympathetic politicians in state legislature. In many cases, their "model legislation" language has been passed into actual law with little or no change. Of the verified members, Koch Industries has been documented as a corporate member; the Koch brothers, if you remember have spent millions of dollars supporting extreme conservative positions and candidates. It is impossible to get a list of active corporate members and active legislative members. People I know have brought up ALEC with their legislators, only to have them quickly change the subject or try to tie this group to the National Conference of State Legislatures. See www.alecexposed.org for more information.