Social Security Works told activists in an email blast that the petition had received over 53,000 signatures within 24 hours. AARP announced on Thursday that it plans to let its membership in a controversial conservative group expire at the end of the year, a clear response to mounting pressure from its members and progressive organizations. The progressive organizations, many of which are longstanding critics of ALEC, sent AARP a strongly-worded letter urging it to withdraw from the group and began an online petition campaign to pressure AARP to do so. AARP is one of many organizations that sponsor the American Legislative Exchange Council, a powerful corporate-backed lobbying group focused on influencing state-level legislation. “After hearing from many of you, we’ve decided not to renew our membership to ALEC,” AARP wrote in a message posted on its Facebook page early Friday morning.

Source: Huffington Post August 05, 2016 18:25 UTC