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The American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC announced this week that it will disband the task force behind the raft of voter ID laws and so-called “Stand Your Ground” legislation sweeping the nation. A statement ALEC released on Tuesday said it would shut down its ‘Public Safety and Elections’ group and, “refocus our commitment to free-market, limited government and pro-growth principles.” The announcement came after several high profile companies announced their withdrawal from the controversial organization that is being called a conservative “bill mill” for promoting copy-cat legislation drafted by corporations and right wing groups and pitched to state legislators at ALEC meetings.

Earlier this month, Coca Cola issued a statement saying it has, “[e]lected to discontinue its membership” with ALEC only 5 hours after the group Color of Change announced a boycott of America’s best known soda company in the wake of the Trayvon Martin killing. This week Blue Cross Blue Shield also left ALEC, following Reed Elsevier, American Traffic Solutions and Arizona Public Service companies. Overall, PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, Inuit, McDonald’s and Wendy’s have cut ties with ALEC this month. ALEC and its member corporations have been the target of public pressure since last July, when the Center for Media and Democracy published hundreds of leaked ALEC model bills, exposing its nationwide conservative agenda.

GUEST: Mary Bottari, with Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and the blogger behind BanksterUSA

Find out more at www.alecexposed.org, www.prwatch.org, and www.banksterusa.org.