T-Mobile ditches ALEC

T-Mobile on Wednesday became the latest tech and telecommunications company to abandon the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

The wireless provider confirmed to The Hill on Wednesday that it decided not to continue its relationship with the organization this year.

{mosads}“T-Mobile is affiliated with many public policy organizations, and we regularly evaluate these affiliations and associations based on our priorities,” spokesman Viet Nguyen said in an email. “In line with this practice, in 2015 we decided not to renew our membership with ALEC.”

The move makes T-Mobile the latest in a long line of companies that have left the organization over the past year.

The exodus was sparked in September, when Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said his company was pulling out of ALEC because “they’re just literally lying” about climate change. 

Since then, companies from AOL to eBay have followed suit.

In its statement on Wednesday, T-Mobile did not clarify whether or not ALEC’s stance on climate change had any bearing on its decision to leave the organization.

Still, liberal critics of the group were quick to declare victory. Todd O’Boyle, the head of the media and democracy program at Common Cause, urged Verizon and AT&T — the nation’s two largest telecom companies — to follow T-Mobile’s lead.

“Big Telecom should once again follow T-Mobile’s example by exiting ALEC straightaway,” said O’Boyle, whose organization has been one of the most vocal in urging companies to leave the organization.