Major Tech Company Severs Ties With ALEC
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SAP is the latest in a string of tech organizations to bolt from the conservative group of state legislators and corporations.
A major multinational software company has dropped its membership with the American Legislative Exchange Council, making it the latest in a rush of prominent tech giants to leave the conservative group in recent months.
SAP, a German-based firm with regional offices in the U.S., said Thursday that it will "immediately disassociate itself" from ALEC, the conservative coalition of state legislators and corporations that has come under fire in recent months for its opposition to environmental regulations.
"SAP has decided to immediately disassociate itself from ALEC," a company representative said in a statement given to the left-leaning Center for Media and Democracy and obtained byNational Journal. "The membership had been under review for some time and is now being canceled."
When asked if the decision was because of ALEC's conservative stance on climate change, the representative replied, "Not only [that] position, on gun control and voter rights as well." ALEC has historically been tied to pushing looser gun control and stricter voter identification laws, but says it no longer works on social policies.
SAP America lobbyist Steve Seale has served as the chairman on the free-market group's corporate board since last year. Seale is a former Republican state legislator from Mississippi, and also worked as chief counsel for Trent Lott when he was the Senate majority leader.
SAP's departure follows an exodus of several large tech organizations that left ALEC in September. In rapid succession, Google, Yahoo, and Yelp announced they have already left or are in the process of leaving the coalition. Facebook also said it was "not likely" to renew its membership with ALEC next year.
Soon after, Occidental Petroleum, the fourth-largest oil and natural-gas company in the U.S., also said it would divorce itself from ALEC.
The wave of exits was touched off by comments Google Chairman Eric Schmidt made during a radio interview that ALEC was "just literally lying" about climate change. Google's departure was sudden, prompting ALEC CEO Lisa Nelson to liken it to "breaking up via text."
Schmidt's remarks came after a large collection of left-leaning public-interest groups stepped up their pressure on companies to leave ALEC over its stance on global warming and track record of backing legislation that opposes state renewable-energy mandates.
Liberal groups have pushed the organization's members to leave and are celebrating SAP's decision to sever ties.
Nick Surgey, director of research at the Center for Media and Democracy, which works to persuade companies to leave ALEC, called SAP's departure a "major blow" to the coalition.
"ALEC's continuing lies about climate change just lost it another big corporate funder, and this time its their own board chair dumping them," Surgey said. "The decision appears to be entirely down to SAP America deciding ALEC's position on climate change is so bizarre and harmful that they can no longer be associated with the group."
ALEC called SAP's exit "unfortunate," but insisted that the organization "remains strong" and that its policies are popular.
"While a few companies have left, many more have joined," a spokesman said in a statement. "In the wake of the elections where a clear mandate for limited-government, state-based policies was offered by the American people, it is too bad that companies like SAP are making short-sighted decisions based on misinformation."