Media Center

Short Hills, NJ: Amid heightened public concern about the influence of big money on elections and decision-making in Congress and state legislatures, Common Cause and the Health Professionals and Allied Employees Union called on Pfizer today to disclose its lobbying activity (including indirect lobbying through trade associations and tax-exempt organizations) and drop its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a controversial state level lobbying organization.

Common Cause called on prospective presidential candidates today to abide by the nation’s campaign finance laws and follow rules governing fundraising while “testing the waters” for a 2016 campaign.

At more than 100 annual meetings this spring, shareholders will ratchet up the pressure on corporations to disclose information about corporate lobbying and electioneering expenditures so investors can make informed investment choices.

Mobile wireless company T-Mobile is the latest to leave the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a secretive corporate lobbying group.

Facing unprecedented public scrutiny and a parade of desertions by some of the nation’s largest corporations, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is threatening potential legal action in an attempt to silence one of its critics – Common Cause.

It’s disheartening to see men who aspire to our nation’s highest office begin their pursuit of it by collectively flouting the law, but the complaints filed Tuesday at the Federal Election Commission by the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 make a persuasive case that Govs. Bush, O’Malley and Walker and Sen. Santorum have done just that.