SAP software
=<div><div class="section field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(66, 66, 66); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238);"><div class="field-items" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="field-item odd" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">The corporate board chair of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the software company SAP America, has quit the group, telling CMD that it has made the decision to "immediately disassociate itself from ALEC" because of the group's position on climate change, opposition to renewable energy, its position on gun safety and its attacks on voter rights.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">Facing increased criticism of its role opposing action to tackle climate change and for teaching climate change denial, ALEC has lost numerous major corporate funders in recent months, with tech firms Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Yelp all leaving. Most high profile was Google, with Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt telling the Diane Rehm show on NPR that it made a mistake in funding ALEC. "We should not be aligned with such people. They are just literally lying," Schmidt said in reference to ALEC's teaching climate change denial. "The company has a very strong view that we should make decisions in politics based on fact," said Schmidt.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">The news on SAP leaving ALEC was first reported on Wednesday in the German magazine, Manager Magazin, which quoted as spokesperson in Germany that the decision was based on ALEC's "strange policies" on climate change and renewable energy. A SAP America spokesperson confirmed this to CMD, and said that other ALEC policies were also a reason including its position on gun safety and voting rights.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">SAP is a particularly big loss for ALEC, because its representative at ALEC, lobbyist Steve Searle, is the Chair of ALEC's corporate board, and the former corporate chair of ALEC's Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force. As a leader within ALEC, Searle would have helped drive the ALEC agenda, and would have had inside knowledge of what ALEC has planned for 2015 to continue to stonewall to tackle climate change.</p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-13 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden clearfix" style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; clear: both; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(66, 66, 66); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background: url(http://www.prwatch.org/sites/all/themes/tb_nex/images/bg-ico-categories.png) 0% 50% no-repeat rgb(238, 238, 238);"><ul class="field-items" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li class="field-item even" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px !important; padding: 0px; list-style: none; display: inline-block; font-size: 0.92em;"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/alec-exposed" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-decoration: none;">ALEC Exposed</a></li></ul></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-12 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden clearfix" style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; clear: both; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(66, 66, 66); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background: url(http://www.prwatch.org/sites/all/themes/tb_nex/images/bg-ico-categories.png) 0% 50% no-repeat rgb(238, 238, 238);"><ul class="field-items" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li class="field-item even" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px !important; padding: 0px; list-style: none; display: inline-block; font-size: 0.92em;"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news-types/news" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-decoration: none;">News</a></li></ul></div><div class="view view-about-the-author view-id-about_the_author view-display-id-entity_view_1 view-dom-id-fa51b2994d32b3506881e7051f8464a3" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px; color: rgb(66, 66, 66); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; background: rgb(237, 239, 244);"><div class="view-content" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="views-row views-row-1 views-row-odd views-row-first views-row-last" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="views-field views-field-field-user-image" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="field-content" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img src="http://www.prwatch.org/files/styles/user-image-thumb/public/users/nick_surgey_bio.jpg?itok=kiuBEuhF" width="70" height="70" alt="Nick Surgey" title="Nick Surgey" style="border: 0px; margin: 4px 6px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: auto; float: left;" /></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-bio" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="field-content" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; line-height: 2em;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Nick Surgey</strong> is CMD's Director of Research. His work has been featured in<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> The Guardian</em>, the <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">New York Times</em>, the <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Los Angeles Times</em>, and the <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Washington Post.</em></p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 2em;" /></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-view-1" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="field-content" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="view view-news-articles view-id-news_articles view-display-id-attachment_1 view-dom-id-7b1029cc52cf3754c1348b15c1befe0c" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="view-header" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; line-height: 2em;">If you liked this article by Nick Surgey, you'll also enjoy reading:</p></div><div class="view-content" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="item-list" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; clear: both; background: 0px 50%;"><ul style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li class="views-row views-row-1 views-row-odd views-row-first" style="border: 0px; margin: 3px 0px 5px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; list-style: none; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.5; font-size: 0.75em; background: url(http://www.prwatch.org/sites/all/themes/tb_nex/images/arrow-view.png) 0px 5px no-repeat scroll rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><div class="views-field views-field-title" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px 13px; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.6;"><span class="field-content" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/11/12665/aol-quits-alec" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); text-decoration: none;">AOL, Owner of Huffington Post, Quits ALEC</a></span></div></li><li class="views-row views-row-2 views-row-even" style="border: 0px; margin: 3px 0px 5px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; list-style: none; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.5; font-size: 0.75em; background: url(http://www.prwatch.org/sites/all/themes/tb_nex/images/arrow-view.png) 0px 5px no-repeat scroll rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><div class="views-field views-field-title" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px 13px; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.6;"><span class="field-content" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/08/12569/alec-and-edelman" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); text-decoration: none;">Edelman Makes a Climate Change Pledge, But Forgets About ALEC</a></span></div></li><li class="views-row views-row-3 views-row-odd views-row-last" style="border: 0px; margin: 3px 0px 5px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; list-style: none; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.5; font-size: 0.75em; background: url(http://www.prwatch.org/sites/all/themes/tb_nex/images/arrow-view.png) 0px 5px no-repeat scroll rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><div class="views-field views-field-title" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px 13px; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.6;"><span class="field-content" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/08/12559/how-alec-fronts-fossil-fuels" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); text-decoration: none;">How ALEC Fronts for Fossil Fuels</a></span></div></li></ul></div></div></div></span></div></div></div></div><span style="color: rgb(66, 66, 66); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238);">- See more at: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/11/12660/alec-corporate-board-chair-quits-over-groups-agenda-climate-change-renewables-and#sthash.YtxVZja7.dpuf</span></div><div></div>