August 4, 2016
AARP
601 E St. NW
Washington, DC 20049
To: JoAnn Jenkins, CEO
As you know, AARP has initiated a campaign around the 2016 Elections called “Take a Stand”
which is calling on candidates for office to take a stand on Social Security. It is in that spirit that
we are asking AARP to take a stand against the American Legislative Exchange Council
(ALEC). We are calling on AARP to withdraw all support for ALEC, a group that has
consistently promoted policies that hurt seniors.
By partnering with ALEC, you have allowed it to use the powerful AARP brand to lend
credibility to legislation harmful to seniors that is introduced in statehouses across the country.
ALEC has been at the forefront of protecting drug companies and their ability to charge
unreasonable prices, has been a strong advocate against the Affordable Care Act and has
opposed Medicaid expansion, forcing lower-income retirees to make terrible choices between
paying medical bills and buying groceries. ALEC pushed voter ID laws that make it harder, not
easier for seniors and people of color to vote. ALEC also blocks action on climate change,
causing irreparable harm to the world we will leave our children and grandchildren. ALEC has
spearheaded calls for a dangerous Article V convention to enact a federal balanced budged
amendment that would ultimately gut critical programs for seniors like Social Security, Medicare
and the Older Americans Act. ALEC has also spent years pushing the dismantling of retirement
security for older Americans by promoting the elimination of defined benefit pensions and the
privatization of Social Security, at least in part, in favor of risky investment accounts. AARP’s
support of ALEC is antithetical to your mission to fight for the issues that matter most to families
— such as health care, employment and income security.
In addition, by sponsoring ALEC, AARP is endorsing an organization that brings corporate
lobbyists and elected officials from around the country together to write anti-senior, anti-family
legislation in a process that locks out the public and subverts our democratic process. Further,
ALEC’s policy positions, its secretive practices, and its effort to treat what most people consider
a lobbying operation as “charitable” activity embrace pay-to-play politics in a way that erodes
public confidence in democratic institutions. This last concern has generated at least three
separate complaints by public interest groups to the Internal Revenue Service that contributions
to ALEC should not in fact be treated as tax-deductible, including a whistleblower complaint by
Common Cause. The Center for Media and Democracy and Common Cause have since filed two
additional submissions of evidence of undisclosed lobbying and trips for lawmakers urging the
IRS to revoke ALEC’s charitable status.
Finally, you have stated publicly that AARP’s interest in supporting ALEC was to gain better
access to state legislators. We reject this explanation. AARP is one of the largest non-profit,
social welfare membership organizations in the country, and your brand and reputation give you
tremendous access to and creditability with lawmakers on all levels in every state. In fact, the
ability to list AARP as a partner confers that access and credibility to ALEC.
We, the undersigned organizations, believe that in the spirit of AARP’s mission and priorities
and in the spirit of what is best for older Americans and the American public, it is time for
AARP to withdraw its support from ALEC.
Sincerely,
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
AFSCME Retirees
Center for Media and Democracy/ALEC Exposed
ClimateTruth.org
Moms Clean Air Force
Stand Up to ALEC
Social Security Works
cc:
Kevin Donellan, Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff
Nancy LeaMond, Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer
Debra Whitman, Executive Vice President and Chief Public Policy Officer
John Hishta, Senior Vice President for Campaigns
Joyce Rogers, Senior Vice President for Government Affairs