Appearing on the Wednesday edition of Hardball, House Assistant Minority Leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) essentially blamed the conservative-leaning American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) for the, apparently unjustified shooting of South Carolina man Walter Scott by North Charleston police officer Michael Slager. For his part, host Chris Matthews failed to object to out-of-far-left-field charge and, what's more, praised his guest as someone for whom he has "a lot of respect."
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'Hardball' Gives Platform to Rep. Clyburn to Blame Conservative-Leaning ALEC for South Carolina Police Shooting
By Ken Shepherd | April 8, 2015 | 8:25 PM EDT 
By Brad Wilmouth | July 17, 2013 | 6:06 PM EDT
On the Tuesday, July 16, PoliticsNation, MSNBC contributor Joy Reid complained that pro-gun groups like the ALEC and the NRA are "almost creating a Wild West atmosphere" to protect gun owners.
After she seemed to suggest a profit motive of wanting to "sell a lot more guns," Reid lamented that these conservative groups are trying to "roll back anything that would inhibit a rational, reasonable person from getting and carrying and even discharging a firearm."
After host Al Sharpton brought up singer Stevie Wonder's declaration that he would not perform in states with Stand Your Ground laws, Reid responded:
By Mike Ciandella | June 26, 2013 | 11:30 AM EDT
Bill Moyers may be a respected media veteran, but lately he has also become a veteran of using his taxpayer-supported show to bash groups he doesn’t like. And he does that while blatantly supporting groups he does like, particularly ones on his payroll.
On June 21, show, “Moyers & Company” published a 56-minute follow-up documentary in a series of attacks against the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is a nonprofit forum where state legislators and private sector leaders can share ideas.
By Mike Ciandella | October 17, 2012 | 3:34 PM EDT
It’s not Big Bird, but it sure is another reason to defund PBS. GRIT TV host and former Air-America Radio host Laura Flanders, substituting for Bill Moyers on PBS’s “Moyers & Company,” interviewed Color of Change executive director Rashad Robinson on September 28. The two liberals used their taxpayer funded platform to attack the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
ALEC is a non-profit organization that promotes state-based policy initiatives. It’s been heavily criticized by the left for its politically conservative stance on many issues. In March 2012, a group of lefty organizations including the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy, the Center for Media and Democracy (which are not the same group, despite the similarities in name), the Center for American Progress, People for the American Way, United Republic, Common Cause and Color of Change, launched a campaign to pressure the corporations that funded ALEC to withdraw their support.
By Mike Ciandella | October 8, 2012 | 6:39 PM EDT
Bill Moyers is at it again. In a documentary entitled “The United States of ALEC” aired as an episode of “Moyers & Company,” Moyers and the Center for Media and Democracy’s Lisa Graves attacked the American Legislative Exchange Council for half an hour.
“The United States of ALEC” was typical of a Center for Media and Democracy/ Common Cause hit job on ALEC. The documentary slammed the Koch Brothers and Koch Industries and attacked Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at length, accusing him of being an ALEC pawn. Moyers also claimed that the state of Arizona is “practically an ALEC subsidiary.”
To Moyers’s nominal credit, this time he admitted at the beginning of the documentary that the research conducted for this project had been funded by both his own Schumann Center for Media and Democracy and by the Schumann-funded Center for Media and Democracy. Common Cause was also involved in the making of the video, although Moyers did not mention his connection to that group. The Schumann Center is listed as a donor on Common Cause’s website, but the amount is not specified.
By Mike Ciandella | September 25, 2012 | 4:08 PM EDT
Bill Moyers will present “The United States of ALEC” documentary in conjunction with Common Cause, which he also funds. The United States of ALEC will premiere on public television sometime in late September, 2012 (date and time still undetermined). Moyers, who Common Cause called a “veteran journalist,” has been instrumental in both funding and publicizing the attacks against the conservative group ALEC.
The official website for “The United States of ALEC,” which is run by Common Cause, refers to the documentary as “a presentation of Bill Moyers” and states that it will be featured on “Moyers & Company.”
In an email, Bob Edgar of Common Cause urged readers to “help uncover ALEC” by either watching the movie or hosting “a viewing party.” The email called the documentary an “exposé of the American Legislative Exchange Council,” the “most influential corporate-funded political organization few Americans have ever heard about.”