Google quits ALEC over climate change; making the world a worse place, says Schmidt
Google is to stop working with the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council because of its stance on climate change, Bloomberg reports.
Eric Schmidt: "A mistake"
Google chairman Eric Schmidt said on Diane Rehm’s National Public Radio show, that his company had funded ALEC in support of “something unrelated. … I think the consensus within the company was that that was some sort of mistake, and so we’re trying to not do that in the future.”
Schmidt told Rehm that people on the wrong side of the climate change debate were “making the world a much worse place”.
He’d concluded: “We should not be aligned with such people—they’re just, they’re just literally lying.”
In a statement, ALEC chief executive Lisa Nelson said: “It is unfortunate to learn Google has ended its membership … as a result of public pressure from left-leaning individuals and organizations who intentionally confuse free-market policy perspectives for climate change denial.”
Microsoft confirmed last month that it had left ALEC. Corporations including Coca-Cola, Bank of America, and General Motors have done the same.
The Center for Media and Democracy, said at least 80 corporations have publicly dropped their ALEC affiliations since 2011, when it launched its ALEC Exposed website to track the group’s activities and the name-brand companies that help fund them.
ALEC claims more than 2,000 US state legislators and almost 300 corporations or private foundations as members.
After Schmidt’s comments, Google confirmed it would not be renewing its membership once it expires at the end of the year.