A shamed AARP withdraws from right-wing lobbying organization ALEC

[babylonsister]

A shamed AARP withdraws from right-wing lobbying organization ALEC
Michael Hiltzik


AARP, the retirees organization, responded Thursday to a torrent of protests from members and advocacy groups by announcing that it would drop its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council, the right-wing organization known as ALEC.

In a notice posted on AARP’s Facebook page, AARP told members, “After hearing from many of you, we’ve decided not to renew our membership to ALEC. We would never work against the interests of older Americans and our engagement with ALEC was NOT an endorsement of the organization’s policies, but an opportunity to engage with state legislators and advance our members’ priorities.”

We reported the AARP/ALEC connection here, following its disclosure by the Center for Media and Democracy, which has been birddogging ALEC for years. Initially, the relationship seemed to amount to a contribution from AARP to help sponsor ALEC’s annual meeting, held in Indianapolis at the end of July. The new statement, however, indicates that AARP had gone further by actually becoming a member.

more...

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-aarp-alec-20160805-snap-story.html

[Sherman A1]

1. Good

I saw some of the comments posted on their FB page and folks were not at all pleased.

[MrScorpio]

2. Hmmm

I just may join AARP now.

[Tikki]

12. Us, too.

We would like to hear more on their support of other agendas, though.


The Tikkis

[PatSeg]

19. Niyad below posted this link

about AARP. They are not great advocates for seniors, they are insurance brokers and have not been very trustworthy for a long time. Their membership in ALEC is just an example of who they are.

The Ugly Truth about the AARP

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/21/325915/-

[RKP5637]

27. Yep, exactly! n/t

[tonyt53]

37. Just a marketing machine that you have to pay for their services. Nothing more.

[zentrum]

49. ^^This^^

[brush]

50. Yep! They're just an insurance company but their name makes it seem they care . . .

about retired people.

All they care about is people buying their insurance policies.

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. Fair warning if you do join.........

You will get tons of junk mail in your mailbox
and same with spam at your e-mail address.
For years.
I mean that...for years.

I joined when I was 55, found few benefits, but god almighty, the mailman would deliver armfulls of junk mail from them.
I could tell it was from them because I had put a 2 letter code as a middle name, and the address name on all the junk mail was the same.
Then I moved.
Across the country.
They found me and continued with the junk mail.
for 6 years.
Then I moved back across the country.
They found me.
Now I only get mail from them, not their affiliates.
Gotta admire their tenacity.
15 years of non-stop jumk mail.
Must cost a pretty penny.

[RKP5637]

30. I belong just for their auto towing plan. I've had it years, used it several times and it

was incredible. The rest of their stuff gets delete/delete/delete. Sometimes what they offer is sometimes cheaper/better by going directly to the provider. I guess I'm lucky, I don't seem to get too much junk mail, but what is annoying, it seems they start mailing bills to you to pay for your next membership even when there are about 6 months to go on the current plan. I just trash them all and pay online when it's due. I can't totally knock them.

[brush]

51. Get AAA and you won't get all the junk mail.

[PatSeg]

40. And you PAY for the right

to have your name on mailing lists and to receive all that junk mail. Such a racket.

[awoke_in_2003]

44. I use junk mail

In my Weber chimney to start the grill. It saves having to buy a newspaper

[PatSeg]

45. Ha, ha

You are very resourceful.

[awoke_in_2003]

46. Thanks

I do love to grill.

[trixie]

54. This is why I never joined or responded to them

I never felt like they were legit as a "helpful" organization. Thank goodness for that.

I could tell it was from them because I had put a 2 letter code as a middle name, and the address name on all the junk mail was the same.

Thanks for the great tip!

[dixiegrrrrl]

58. Same works for online shopping registrations.

most large online stores have small print about your privacy which essentially says they can share your info. with 3rd parties.
So my mailing address name will contain "Mary amz Doe" for Amazon, etc.
The online puters will accept anything you give as a mailing address name.

[Bob Buttons]

63. A good throwaway email address works wonders too

I actually picked up a domain name (some less-than-popular TLDs are super cheap) and set up free google mail handling, so I can use an address like, say, [e-mail] and watch to see who sells my email address to spammers. A bit more useful than a general-purpose throwaway email, since I can see where the address came from originally, and avoid doing business with that website in the future.

[drm604]

56. I've never joined or had any interest in joining,

but I get junk mail from them anyway, including their magazine, which always goes in the recycle bin unopened. Somehow they know when you turn 55, at which point they begin harassing you with mailings whether you want them or not. Fortunately they haven't figured out my email, or maybe they actually respect the CAN-SPAM law.

All I can figure is that they find out your age from either the DMV or Social Security, which I find disturbing.

[dixiegrrrrl]

64. "they find out your age from either the DMV or Social Security, which I find disturbing."

Had to be DMV, cause they got my new address in another state a couple of months after I moved there and got my new license.
BEFORE I turned even 60.

I find it very disturbing that all the various forms of data about us are sold to ventures which make a profit from it, but is not easily accessible to us.

You want to trace ancestors, you have to join a group like Ancestory dot com and pay them to search public records.

Same with dozens of other money seeking companies. They will sell you information about you.

[Lottie5]

36. Yeah, for a brief second I had the very same thought.

[a kennedy]

38. Nope I still won't join this crap ass organization......

Will never forget their participation in the drug vote I stayed up until 6:00AM to see it fail. Ugh.....will NEVER join that organization.

................Last month, the House passed the measure after Bush made late-night, last-minute phone calls asking members to support it. An unusually long three-hour vote was ended by GOP leaders at 6 a.m., after a 218 to 216 deficit flipped to a 220 to 215 victory.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/12/08/elec04.medicare/

[scscholar]

53. Uhh, they supported the ACA even though the vast majority of their members were against it.

I wouldn't call them crap.

[awoke_in_2003]

43. I will renew now

I told them that this was why I wasn't. I guess enough people opened their mouths.

[sharp_stick]

3. I'm surprised anyone is still affiliated with them

My company backed out a couple of years ago and I know of a few others in the same industry that have done the same.

[niyad]

4. "our engagement with ALEC was NOT an endorsement of the organization’s policies," what a load

of codswallop. I do not belong to organizations of whose mission and policies I disapprove.

aarp, which sold out seniors years ago, is only upset because their hypocrisy is out in the open.

[frogmarch]

14. Yes! You nailed it. nt

[Eleanors38]

26. I joined because it seemed the only show in town, but I've thought twice...

and will let my membership go. To much RW collusion, and not a lot of activism; they regularly want me to send notices to my Texas delegation (phew!) to continue support for SS. Ha! And they want donations (to AARP) to go with my mailings to these jackals who would just as soon smash SS. To paraphrase a t.v. insurance ad "why should pay for insurance when I have to pay again to use it."

[niyad]

62. you have that absolutely correct.

[Hekate]

5. "Responded to a torrent of protests from members and advocacy groups...." KnR!

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Apparently they didn't bother to read

the legislation language templates that the group created. It's not like it wasn't neatly categorized alphabetically and by subject, and posted on the ALEC website for all to see. I actually spent some time a few years ago going through a lot of it and it was pretty obvious how RW it was.

[MattP]

7. My parents dropped out after they backed Bush's drug plan

With no check on drug prices

[RKP5637]

31. Yep, many people did! LOL, they advocate for seniors. Yeah, right. It should be AARP Insurance, Inc.

[stage left]

8. I posted my protest to the AARP website

as did my sister. She had a check ready to send in her dues, but tore it up when I told her about the Alec ties. Then she told AARP that she had torn up the check she was going to send them and why.

[CurtEastPoint]

11. SO did I.

[lillypaddle]

9. Good for them

And now, if they would only quit sending me renewal notices one after another, when my membership doesn't expire for 6 months.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

42. I find that typical, and no less irritating, with so many companies.

They won't bother to spend a few bucks to differentiate between members and non-members or paying customers and potentials. You're on the line with some businesses and the lengthy hold time is filled with loud, obnoxious advertisements trying to get you to buy the service you're already paying for.

Maybe I'm seeing the past through nostalgia, but I swear companies used to have far better customer service in so many ways.

[Augiedog]

10. Another reason why I said fuck you to the AARP. I've known they were right wing dirt bags but ALEC?

[Johnyawl]

13. AARP used to be a reliable advocate for seniors

But now their executive council been infiltrated by republicans and they've tried (with some success) to maneuver the organization toward republican positions. They still advocate strongly for seniors, but now they have to be monitored constantly and jumped on hard when they start supporting republican positions.

[niyad]

15. ever since they sold out the seniors on medicared, I have had no use for them

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/21/325915/-

[PatSeg]

17. Thank you

That was what I was trying to remember when I said I don't trust them! They are basically more insurance brokers, than advocates for senior citizens.

[niyad]

18. you are most welcome

[PatSeg]

20. I seem to recall another thing

about Social Security that caused an uproar too. Brain is a bit fuzzy today.

[niyad]

21. google "aarp sells out seniors on social security" quite an eye opener

[PatSeg]

24. Yes, yes, yes

That was it. I wasn't sure if I was remembering it correctly, but I do know I was livid at the time!

Thank you yet again,

[RKP5637]

32. I've always thought of them as a marketing organization that targets Seniors. n/t

[PatSeg]

39. True, "targets' seniors

rather than advocate for them. They make an awful lot of money marketing crap to seniors, while often backing legislation that does not benefit them. Then they have the nerve to charge people for the privilege of being the recipient of their marketing. AARP invests those premium dollars and earns tens of millions of dollars off the investments, on top of insurance royalties and fees made selling their lists. Nice racket they have going there!

[RKP5637]

41. Well said!!! And some of the providers they team up with have horrible ratings/reviews. n/t

[PatSeg]

16. I've never really trusted AARP

But I am really surprised to hear that they had a membership in ALEC.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

23. Consider any state legislatures who go to be corrupt.

[catbyte]

25. I'm relieved they did this. I was going to cancel my membership, which I didn't want to do.

I got a really good deal on bundled auto/renters insurance through AARP and I wasn't looking forward to shopping around, but I was willing to do it. Anything to stop ALEC. What a vile organization.

[Scalded Nun]

28. Shamed? I doubt it

Sorry they got caught is more like it. ALEC does work against the interest of seniors (and others, especially the vulnerable). To align yourself with them is to sanction their actions, no 2 ways about it.
They have been caught with their pants down on more than 1 occasion, usually followed by a meek 'whoops'.

[Warpy]

29. About bloody time!

I've been binning their come-ons for years because of their knee jerk conservatism.

If they want Boomers to make them richer, they're going to have to shape up a hell of a lot more.

[jtuck004]

33. AARP is a front for United Healthcare. Their positions are one and the same.

http://www.businessinsider.com/united-healthcare-quitting-obamacare-2016-4

[TygrBright]

34. Glad to hear it, but they lost me for good when they fucked us last time. n/t

When they teabagged Big Pharma while Dim Son occupied the Oval Office.

Between that and the number of forests they kill sending unwanted shills for insurance and other gravy-train 'services' to suck Social Security out of our bank accounts, I got no time for them now or ever.

Their only justification for existence, as far as I'm concerned (and it's a slender one) is that given the percentage of crap from them that makes up the average mail carrier's load, they're doing good work keeping the Postal Service going.

dismissively,
Bright

[downeastdaniel]

35. Bravo, regardless of the reasons...ALEC sucks.

[FairWinds]

47. That is very good news, and as we all know . .

the evil ALEC is a project of the Koch brothers.

And the Koch brothers were also founders and funders of the
Democratic Leadership Council, which was close to the Clinton's.

Inquiring minds want to know - Are the Koch's or other
Reich wing money still going to the DLC's successor organization,
the Progressive Policy Institute?

[lpbk2713]

48. ... as the GOP continues its march off into oblivion.

They are becoming more irrelevant with each passing day.

I love it.

[saidsimplesimon]

52. We agree bablonsister.

It's amazing that it took this long to attack our real enemies, ALEC for the Kock funded cluster f..k.

[DonCoquixote]

55. SHAME WORKS!

Indeed, at times it is the ONLY thing that works. The next time someone calls you an (expletive), remember, the only reason the powerful stop doing what they do is often because one person pointed at them and screamed SHAME!

[stuffmatters]

57. I'm for bringing back The Gray Panthers and supporting SocSec Works!

[BlueMTexpat]

59. Long overdue! eom

[marble falls]

60. AARP still has a long way to go. But t is nice to sign petitions that actually accomplish something.

[heaven05]

61. chastened, not changed

AARP has backed every conservative since reagan. I'm waiting for them to endose the nazi