AARP will drop its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which has a long history of peddling bills that harm the interests of retirees and other Americans.
The statement comes just days after the Center for Media and Democracy reported that AARP had joined ALEC and was a sponsor of ALEC’s 2016 Annual Conference. AARP joins more than 120 private sector members that have publicly cut ties with ALEC since CMD launched the ALEC Exposed investigation in 2011.
ALEC Has Worked Against AARP Members’ Health and Security
While AARP has fought hard to preserve Social Security and extend health care access such as Medicare benefits to seniors, ALEC has promoted numerous “model” bills that would undermine important protections for retirees’ health and economic security.
One ALEC “solution” to possible future Social Security shortfalls was to divert tax revenue from the insurance program into private accounts.
ALEC has promoted multiple bills that would replace defined benefit pension plans with riskier retirement plans.
And one of ALEC’s top priorities in recent years has been a “Balanced Budget” amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Handcuffing the budget would threaten the federal government’s fiscal stability and put Social Security, Medicare, and other cornerstone safety net programs at risk.
AARP members were not happy to learn that their dues were helping to fund an organization with a history of working against their interests. Many quickly began demanding to know what AARP was up to.
ALEC National Chair: AARP Is “Being Intimidated” (By Its Own Members Asking about ALEC)
The outcry by AARP members was not well-received at ALEC.
The corporate bill mill has struggled to retain corporate sponsors in the years after its ties to “Stand Your Ground” gun bills were revealed. More recently, its role in spreading disinformation about climate change science has turned away former corporate members like Google and Ford.
Google Chair Eric Schmidt told NPR in 2014 that ALEC was “literally lying” about climate change, and that Google’s membership “was some sort of mistake.”
ALEC and its allies have tried to spin demands for accountability on climate and transparency about its lobbying efforts as “intimidation” of their free speech.
Following the same playbook, ALEC’s National Chair, Wisconsin State Senator Leah Vukmir, told attendees at a breakfast meeting on Friday, August 29 that “one of our very good sponsors, AARP” was “being intimidated.”
According to notes, Vukmir said, “They are under siege right now … And I need every one of you to make sure you call your AARP representatives back in your states.”
She told ALEC legislators “our principles are being challenged,” and said that they needed to tell AARP they appreciate its sponsorship of ALEC and “ask them to remain strong.”
The AARP members conducting the “siege” are an estimated 38 million Americans over the age of 50, about half of whom are retired, and 70 percent of whom are grandparents.
In ALEC’s world, an organization responding to its own members’ concerns, rather than ALEC’s demands, is “being intimidated.”
A coalition of organizations including AFSCME, CMD, Social Security Works, and others had planned to circulate a letter today calling on AARP to withdraw its support for ALEC. CMD had also organized a petition.
But it was pressure from its own members that prompted AARP to react quickly and cut ties with ALEC.
AARP Responds to Members, Not ALEC Shakedown
On August 5, AARP announced that it would not renew its membership in ALEC as a result of members’ concerns:
“After hearing from many of you, we’ve decided not to renew our membership to ALEC. We would never work against the interests of older Americans and our engagement with ALEC was NOT an endorsement of the organization’s policies, but an opportunity to engage with state legislators and advance our members’ priorities.”
The lingering question for many is why the organization joined ALEC in the first place, given the chasm between the two groups’ policy views.
A statement made last week to the L.A. Times hints that ALEC’s pay-to-play model may be something closer to a shakedown for anyone wanting to meet public officials who are ALEC members.
AARP said that it made a payment to ALEC to gain “an opportunity to engage with state legislators… [G]iven that Republicans control one or more chambers in 39 of the nation’s 50 state legislatures, we believe having a seat at the table at the ALEC annual meeting was necessary to our mission of representing the interests and needs of people 50-plus and their families.”
If even the powerful AARP, which represents tens of millions of Americans and has offices and registered lobbyists in most states, has to pay dues to ALEC in order to meet with Republican state lawmakers, then perhaps Sen. Vukmir’s concern about “intimidation” was partly right.
The success of AARP’s members shows that ordinary Americans still have the power to fight ALEC’s intimidation game.
I was so mad when I found out that aarp was under the alec umbrella , I called and spoke with a representative to ask point blank if it was true, I asked had they absolutely lost their mind .The representative put me on hold to go find out. I told her that I was not really computer savvy, but I will tell all of my friends who are members not to rejoin and learn computer wise how to get the word out. She begged me not to do so. I am withholding my membership until the smoke clears. If it doesn’t, we need to questions arrp’s commitment to it’s members and with our money. The representative learned a few things from me that she didn’t even know.How sad is that! She couldn’t answer for sure if aarp was still a member.
I AM A CONCERN MEMBER OF (AARP ) AND WILL NOT RENEW UNTIL I AM SURE THAT WE ARE NOT A PART (ALEC). I WANT NO PART (ALEC) AND IT MEMBERS IDEAS.
How deeply did the reporter have to dig to find out about this connection? Did AARP make any effort to hide their membership? When I went to the AARP site I didnt find a single article about raising the caps on SS taxation in order to ensure solvency for as far as the eye can see?
Thanks, for the information. Well done !
What really got AARP’s attention, I suspect, were threats from people like me to cancel our United Health Care-provided health insurance (sponsored by AARP) unless they cut ties with ALEC. Consumer power. We should use it more often.
Why would it take AARP members in force to make AARP quit membership in ALEC? Would one think that AARP would be perceptive enough and concerned enough about it members’ welfare that AARP would have terminated membership months before this. I think this nice insight into AARPs lack of attentiveness to member issues. ALEC’s efforts have been so pernicious and so obvious that their continued membership is alarming.
Great to see AARP stand up to ALEC and their bully boys. AARP does a lot of good work at many levels. The AARP Bulletin is an excellent publication filled with well-written articles on all manner of consumer and medical issues. The computer and social media classes they provide are excellent and almost always filled with people seeking this help. I have found them very responsive when you need information or want to focus attention on the endless scams aimed at seniors and immigrants.
One is compelled to wonder who else AARP is giving our dues so that its executives can “have a seat at the table,” not to mention the cruises and fancy venues ALEC provides contributors. I’m done with the AARP unless and until it publishes a complete list of its contributions, and the current executive team resigns without golden parachutes.
Members are supposed to pressure the leadership when leadership is doing something stupid and not in the interest of the membership. Wonder why this ever happened in the first place? Some people need to resign.
Just showed me that another POS republican was in charge of aarp,a group that says they are for seniors and their interests,looks like to me the person,and other leaders of this organization are in it for themselves..#NOTTHESENIORS
I was horrified to read about AARP sponsoring ALEC. What ever possessed them? Did they not know what ALEC does, and why didn’t they know? Their explanation of gaining access to state legislators just doesn’t wash. Maybe new AARP leadership is needed.
I agree.
It is shocking that AARP joined in the first place.
I totally agree, and that bit about AARP needing access to state legislators is certainly not true in Illinois where I personally have lobbied for AARP and have never had trouble getting in to see Illinois legislators.
I will now join AARP. I revoked my membership several years ago.
AT age 71 I will now considering joining AARP but I will always suspect their motives. Finally they are acting in the interest of their members.
That information can be found using internet search engines.
the list of those elected in D.C who work or belong to ALEC can be found on search engines.
Thanks, CMD. It would be great to have a listing of all the legislators who support or belong to this nefarious organization, as well as its corporate sponsors. Vermin like ALEC tend to shrivel up in sunlight.
Vermin . . . shrivel up in sunlight?
Some metaphors do also.
I agree.
I will now pay my membership to AARP.
I think it’s telling that, even if you give AARP honchos the benefit of the doubt, they would choose to shell out to “engage with state legislators [to] advance our members’ priorities”, rather than standing with others in the street to demand they be treated justly.
I’ll keep that in mind next time I get an unsolicited come on from them.
Well done, AARP members, AFSCME, Social Security Works, CMD and the rest of the coalition. Especially well done, Jessica Mason!