Coca Cola executives who recently decided to stop supporting the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) did so in response to demands from an obscure left-wing activist group, Color of Change (COC).
On its web site, COC said ALEC should be boycotted because "the right wing has been trying to stop Black people, other people of color, young people, and the elderly from voting — and now some of America’s biggest companies are helping them do it. Demand that these companies stop funding the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)."
The conservative ALEC group's model Voter ID laws require those seeking to vote in state and local elections to present photo IDs, just as commercial airline passengers are required to do when going through security or when customers in a pharmacy buy certain prescription or over-the-counter drugs.
Color of Change was co-founded in 2005 by James Rucker and Van Jones, ousted former Obama Green Jobs Czar. Though ColorOfChange.org claims to have more than 81,000 "members," the group, which is registered with the IRS as a 501(C)(4) advocacy organization, has a small paid staff of four people and revenues of $515,219, according to its 2010 Form 990 tax return. Only $21,000 was listed for employee salary and benefits costs.
James Rucker is named by the 990 as the executive director, but no compensation figures are included for him, even though he is listed as devoting 40 hours per week to the organization. Formerly, Rucker was director of grassroots mobilization at MoveOn.org, a George Soros funded organization.
Only one other officer is listed, Heidi Hess, who is named "director," but spends only two hours per week on COC business and receives no compensation, according to the 990.
Rucker is described by Huffington Post as "co-founder of ColorOfChange.org. Founded in the wake of Katrina, ColorOfChange.org is the leading online citizen lobby for African-Americans and their allies like GetEQUAL.
GetEQUAL's mission is as follows:
Our mission is to empower the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community and our allies to take bold action to demand full legal and social equality, and to hold accountable those who stand in the way.
In a related incident, the boycott of Fox News host Glenn Beck gathered more steam in August 2009 when companies pulled their ads from his show, Color of Change organizers said. A total of 20 companies have pulled their ads Color of Change said including Geico, ConAgra, RadioShack, Men's Wearhouse, State Farm, Sargento and Procter & Gamble.
A Fox News spokeswoman said: "The advertisers referenced have all moved their spots from Beck to other programs on the Fox network so there has been no revenue lost."
But judging from the show's broadcasts following those Color of Change comments, there were plenty of companies eager to fill the ad slots, including The Wall Street Journal, DirecTV, Honda and Oprah Winfrey's Oxygen Channel. Hundreds of Beck fans have voiced support for him in a counterprotest too.
While Glenn Beck's contract on Fox has never been a big money-maker for Beck -- it makes up $2 million of a $40 million annual income. His books have consistently been at the top of the Amazon Best Seller List too.
Since June 2011, Glenn Beck went back on the air to start GBTV, his own successful internet televison station, and a radio talk-show along with other related interests in Dallas, Texas.
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VOTE 2012! ~