With friends like ALEC, who needs enemies?

The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, for short. Sounds innocuous enough, right?

Its website says ALEC "provides a constructive forum for state legislators and private sector leaders to discuss and exchange practical, state-level public policy issues."

Gee, a reasonable person thinks, this might even be a good idea.

Not so fast.

ALEC is, in fact, a national think tank that pushes free market policies at the state level. We're in favor of free markets as much as the next fellow, as long as they're fair markets based on reality and, yes, truth.

And that's where we part ways with ALEC. The group, funded in part by the Koch brothers, is unfortunately committed not just to denying climate science, but to throwing wrenches into the works of any state legislature that is working to slow climate change and/or advance clean, efficient energy.

ALEC has been lurking for years now, usually quietly, doing their damage where they can at state capitols around the country.

But last week, several really big tech firms publicly withdrew their memberships from ALEC, nothing quiet about it. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said that ALEC has been "literally lying" about the reality of climate change. Yelp and Yahoo have announced they're leaving ALEC, and Facebook has said they're unlikely to renew their membership.

But now, even oil companies like Occidental Petroleum are leaving ALEC because they just don't want to be associated with their positions. That's really saying something about ALEC's credibility.

Sorry, ALEC. We all see right through you. Good riddance.

Joy Bergey is federal policy director for PennFuture and is based in Philadelphia. She tweets @joybergey.

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