<P> ALEC's activities, while legal, received public scrutiny after being reported by liberal groups in 2011 and after news reports from outlets such as The New York Times and Bloomberg Businessweek described ALEC as an organization that gave corporate interests outsized influence . Resulting public pressure led to a number of legislators and corporations withdrawing from the organization . </P> <P> ALEC was founded in 1973 in Chicago as the Conservative Caucus of State Legislators a project initiated by Mark Rhoads, an Illinois state house staffer, to counter the Environmental Protection Agency, wage, and price controls, and to respond to the defeat of Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election . </P> <P> Conservative legislators felt the word "conservative" was unpopular with the public at the time, however, so the organization was renamed as, the American Legislative Exchange Council . In 1975, with the support of the American Conservative Union, ALEC registered as a federal nonprofit agency . Bill Moyers and Greenpeace have attributed the establishment of ALEC to the influential Powell Memorandum, which led to the rise of a new business activist movement in the 1970s . </P> <P> ALEC was co-founded by conservative activist Paul Weyrich, who also co-founded The Heritage Foundation . Henry Hyde, who later became a U.S. congressman, and Lou Barnett, who later became national political director of Ronald Reagan's Political Action Committee, also helped to found ALEC . Early members included a number of state and local politicians who went on to statewide office, including Bob Kasten, Tommy Thompson, and Scott Walker of Wisconsin, John Engler of Michigan, Terry Branstad of Iowa, Mitch Daniels of Indiana, and John Boehner and John Kasich of Ohio . Several members of Congress also were involved in the organization during its early years, including Rep. Jack Kemp of New York, Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, Sen. James L. Buckley of New York, Rep. Phil Crane of Illinois, and Rep Eric Cantor of Virginia . </P>

What group drafts and legislates the state laws