The Heartland Institute, a member of ALEC, has come under
similar attacks in recent years notably
the 2012 theft of its budget documents and creation of a fake ‘strategy
memo’ that distorted Heartland’s work in the climate science debate. The
Guardian newspaper this week published an expose based on leaked internal ALEC documents. The left-wing
Americans United for Change hosted a conference call with three members of
Congress to denounce ALEC and encourage donors to abandon the organization.
The following statement from Joseph Bast, president of The Heartland Institute ‘a free-market think tank’ may be used
for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To
book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Director of
Communications Jim Lakely at jlakely@heartland.org and 312/377-4000 or (cell)
312/731-9364.
Having been through such an attack ourselves, we stand
with our colleagues at the American Legislative Exchange Council and express
our dismay that they are being put through this experience. This effort is
obviously aimed at alienating donors to conservative and libertarian
organizations, and we hope those donors won’t fall for the bait. These are
Alinsky-style tactics: Demonize, distract, and refuse to engage your opponents
on what really matters. It has nothing to do with ALEC’s stance on public
policy issues. These attacks are leveled by people who refuse to engage in
civil debate, and they should not be allowed to win the day.
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