Kraft Drops Conservative Lobbying Group Over Voter ID and 'Stand Your Ground' Laws

Following in the footsteps of Coca Cola Co. and Pepsi Co., Kraft Foods has announced that it will not be renewing its membership with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

This is the most recent company to part ways with the conservative group.

Voter ID and “Stand Your Ground” laws have been under fierce attack for the past couple of months. By extension, groups associated with these laws, most notably ALEC, have also come under fire from activists and activists groups.

For instance, while making an appearance on MSNBC's "The Ed Show," President Obama's former "green" jobs czar Van Jones (who seems to be just about everywhere these days) claimed ALEC was responsible for the death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin.

“Listen, Trayvon, that child died, the police said we can't put the killer in jail because of this stand your ground, kill at will law,” Van Jones said.

“It came from ALEC. Trayvon's not safe walking to the store. His mom's not safe walking to the voting booth because of the voting disenfranchisement laws. And a Latino is not safe walking to work because of the same thing. They are in grave danger of having their brands tarnished,” he added.

Watch the Van Jones interview (via MMFA):

Anti-ALEC activists succeeded in pressuring Pepsi Co. to pull support from ALEC in January and Coca Cola Co. was convinced by Color of Change (yes, that Color of Change) to cut ties earlier this week.

And now Kraft has jumped ship.

“Kraft said in a statement that it has ‘made the decision not to renew’ its ALEC membership, which is expiring,” the Chicago Tribune reports.

“The company, based in north suburban Northfield, was opaque in its reasoning, citing ‘limited resources’ and saying that its involvement with ALEC ‘has been strictly limited to discussions about economic growth and development, transportation and tax policy,’” the report adds.

Wait. What?

“Limited resources”? Kraft Foods is citing “limited resources” as a reason for not renewing membership with ALEC?

“The withdrawals pleased ALEC detractors, which includes the Center for Media and Democracy," the Tribune reports.

"The liberal-leaning nonprofit said it had launched a protest campaign in tandem with Color of Change opposing what it said were ALEC's efforts to deny climate change, undermine public schools and encourage laws that would require voters to present various forms of identification before voting,” the report adds.

(H/T: The Consumerist)

This post has been updated.