Breaking: Bill Gates Foundation Withdraws Support for ALEC

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has withdrawn its support for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), according to a report by the liberal corporate free speech police site, Republic Report:

Republic Report’s Suzanne Merkelson covered how the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a charity set up by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, supports ALEC financially. Now, Roll Call is reporting that the Foundation is withdrawing support for ALEC:

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation today became the latest backer to withdraw financial support for the American Legislative Exchange Council. A foundation spokesman told Roll Call that it does not plan to make future grants to the conservative nonprofit, which has come under fire from progressive activists for its support of voter identification laws and other contentious measures.

Another report, by Roll Call, indicates that any grant from the Gates Foundation would have come with very narrow parameters, meaning the monies would have had nothing to do with any initiative the left opposes. Consequently, it will not impact ALEC in context of so-called Stand Your Ground legislation, and is actually a campaign of disassociation through intimidation.

“We have made a single grant, narrowly and specifically focused on providing information to ALEC-affiliated state legislators on teacher effectiveness and school finance,” said Chris Williams, the spokesman, noting that the foundation was never a dues-paying member.

ALEC’s stated mission is, “to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty, through a nonpartisan public-private partnership of America’s state legislators, members of the private sector, the federal government, and general public.” 

Increasingly, the left has been waging campaigns of threats and intimidation to silence political opposition in the run-up to Election 2012 this November.