Common Cause and 54 other organizations joined Wednesday in asking Google to drop its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a secretive corporate lobbying group.

In a letter to Google offices across the country, the coalition partners urged Google to follow its motto of “Don’t Be Evil” by giving up its ALEC’s membership. The groups cited ALEC’s hidden role in writing state laws; a Common Cause Beschwerde beim IRS challenges ALEC’s status as a nonprofit charitable organization and asserts the group functions as a lobby for its corporate members..

The letter, which comes just a few weeks after Microsoft announced its departure from ALEC, also argues that ALEC’s opposition to clean energy and net neutrality does not fit Google’s public policy agenda. ALEC, which is heavily funded by telecom and fossil fuel giants including Comcast, AT&T, ExxonMobil, and Koch Industries, has pushed “model” legislation undermining the development of clean energy and opposing net neutrality.

ALEC has been called a “stealth business lobbyist” by the New York Times. The group brings state legislators and corporate lobbyists together in private, often at posh resort hotels, to fashion a variety of legislative proposals that advance the interests of its corporate members, often at the expense of the American people.

Over the past three years more than 80 corporations and at least 400 state legislators have dropped their memberships in ALEC.

Organizations signing the letter to Google include environmental, labor, religious, citizen action, and public interest groups. The signers agreed that “in the spirit of what Google purports to be, and in the spirit of what is best for the American public: it is time for Google to end its membership in ALEC.”

You can read a copy of the letter here.

Nachfolgend finden Sie die Liste der Organisationen, die den Brief unterzeichnet haben:

Amerikanische Familienstimmen
Amerikanischer Gewerkschaftsbund und Kongress der Industrieorganisationen (AFL-CIO)
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
Amerikanischer Lehrerverband (AFT)
Amerikaner für demokratisches Handeln (ADA)
Amerikaner vereint für den Wandel
Allianz für amerikanische Rentner
Zentrum für effektive Regierung
Center for Media and Democracy/ALECExposed
Christopher Reynolds Stiftung
Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington (CREW)
Klimaeltern
ColorofChange.org
Gemeinsame Ursache
Communication Workers of America (CWA)
Mut-Kampagne
CREDO-Aktion
Demokratie für Amerika
Demos
Energie-Aktionskoalition
Forecast the Facts
Free Press
Freunde Treuhandgesellschaft
Good Jobs First
Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters, U.S.A.
In the Public Interest
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
Jobs mit Gerechtigkeit
Liga der Naturschutzwähler
Money Out Voters In (MOVI)
Montana Umweltinformationszentrum
MoveOn
New Energy Economy
Nordwestliche Koalition für verantwortungsvolles Investieren
Menschen für den amerikanischen Weg
Fortschritt jetzt
Fortschritt Florida
Fortschritt Missouri
Province of St. Joseph of the Capuchin Order Milwaukee
Öffentliche Kampagne
Bürger
RootsAction
Internationale Gewerkschaft der Dienstleistungsangestellten (SEIU)
Sierra Club
Schwestern der Darstellung der Heiligen Jungfrau Maria
Share Action
Soziale Sicherheit funktioniert
Stand Up to ALEC
SumOfUs
Gewerkschaft der Lebensmittel- und Handelsarbeiter (UFCW)
Vereinigte Stahlarbeiter (USW)
USAktion
We Act Radio
Arbeitendes Amerika
Zevin Asset Management