Mediaboss Marketing

House Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. McMorris Rodgers, from Eastern Washington, chairs the House Republican Conference.

Top technology companies including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have recently quit the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative group that drafted Floridas Stand Your Ground law and which is working to counter the federal governments bid to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

But a top House Republican, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., has embraced ALEC. McMorris Rodgers spoke Thursday to its Jefferson Reception, part of a conference of lobbyists and legislators that has featured seminars on such topics as Big Green Radicals.

The congresswoman has been active with ALEC since her time in the state legislature, McMorris Rodgers office said in her weekly schedule.

Microsoft bailed out of the council in August, saying it was incongruous to be supporting an organization which is fighting policies that promote renewable energy.

Googles CEO Eric Schmidt, in a National Public Radio interview, said that ALEC is just literally lying by promoting skepticism about climate change, adding: And so we wont be aligned with such people.

Amazon.com quit ALEC in 2012, citing public concerns over the groups drafting of gun, immigration and voter ID laws. The Stand Your Ground law was a component in the defense of George Zimmerman after the neighborhood vigilante killed unarmed Florida teenager Travon Martin.

House Speaker John Boehner and Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers blast President Obama at news conference. McMorris Rodgers is a rising figure in GOP leadership.

McMorris Rodgers, who chairs the House Republican Conference, took a different perspective and praised the council in an email to seattlepi.com.

ALEC embraces that collaborative spirit and enables lawmakers from all 50 states to come together to exchange ideas in an effort to make life better for communities of Washington state and all across the country, said the Eastern Washington congresswoman.

Read more from the original source:
McMorris Rodgers, House GOP leader, embraces controversial, conservative group