Five more major corporations severed their ties with the extremist American Legislative Council (ALEC). Their exit brings the number of big corporations to 25—plus four major non-profit groups and 55 lawmakers—that have recently left ALEC and its agenda of voter suppression, union-busting and immigrant bashing. The five latest companies, according to Reuters, are Hewlett-Packard, CVS Caremark, Deere & Co., MillerCoors and Best Buy.

After years of operating below the public’s radar, ALEC found itself in the spotlight over its involvement in Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law that's at the center of the Trayvon Martin killing.

ALEC provides model legislation to state lawmakers to suppress voting rights and eliminate collective bargaining. Its model bills also include anti-immigrant legislation, right-wing measures on education, prison privatization and big tax breaks for corporations. Some 800 ALEC crafted bills passed or were introduced in recent years according to the Center for Media and Democracy’s (CMD) ALEC Exposed.

CMD, Color of Change, Common Cause, People for the American Way and others have been urging corporations to drop their ALEC membership. Click here to send a message to corporations such as ExxonMobil, Peabody Energy, Pfizer and others urging them to dump ALEC.