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Monday, August 15, 2016

Leading advocacy group for seniors finally leaves right-wing organization


AARP represents millions of senior citizens. It lobbies to protect social security, health insurance, and every government program that helps its members. 

Yet AARP belongs to ALEC, the far-right organization that advocates elimination of government safety nets, privatization of government functions, and unfettered corporate action in pursuit of profit. 

Under pressure from unions (read the key letter below in link), AARP dropped out of ALEC. 


Politico reports: 

“At 3:32 p.m. Thursday afternoon, we reached out to AARP to ask them whether they were going to renew their membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council, a controversial conservative legislative group focus on state politics.

“We wrote that we were going to do an item about it. Groups like AFSCME, Social Security Works, ClimateTruth.org and others were launching a campaign and had just begun circulating a letter, asking AARP to leave ALEC.

“At 5:58 p.m., Anna got an email from AARP saying, “We will not renew our membership to ALEC. AARP will continue to explore avenues that will enhance our interaction with organizations and elected officials that represent different perspectives in order to further the issues important to Americans 50+ and their families.”

The letter that did it: http://politi.co/2aoPzzM

Puzzling. Why did it ever join?