Anti-Coke remark a 'tweet of frustration,' Grassley says

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said a recent comment he made suggesting people avoid Coca-Cola was made out of frustration with corporate executives.

“I guess that was more a tweet of frustration,” the senator said today.

On Saturday, Grassley posted on Twitter that people maybe should think about not drinking Coca-Cola since the company ended its financial support for the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC is a group of mostly Republican legislators from all 50 states and funded primarily by a long list of major corporations that researches legislation and provides model bills for states to adopt. The organization has taken heat recently for its support for “Stand Your Ground” gun-self-defense bills in states like Florida.

Coca-Cola was one of at least a dozen corporations that stopped financial support for ALEC after receiving pressure from liberal-leaning groups, particularly after the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida. Coca-Cola was also the first company to part ways with ALEC that Grassley noticed.

“I kind of resent it when corporations will submit to that kind of blackmail. Corporations ought to be able to speak freely. If they want to support ALEC, they should be able to support ALEC,” Grassley said.

Among other companies that have stopped supporting ALEC are McDonald's, Pepsi, Wendy's, Kraft and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

ALEC has created a number of model bills used around the country, including voter identification laws. It was created in 1973 with its primary mission being support of legislative actions supportive of free enterprise.

“It kind of is a clearinghouse for all 50 state legislatures to consider things along the same line, so I think it's good to have a national organization that will do that and do research that's respectable,” Grassley said.

After corporations started to leave the fold, ALEC announced it would end its work on non-economic issues.

National Chairman David Frizzell, a legislator from Indiana, announced the change April 17.

“We are refocusing our commitment to free-market, limited government and pro-growth principles, and have made changes internally to reflect this renewed focus. We are eliminating the ALEC public safety and elections task force that dealt with non-economic issues, and reinvesting these resources in the task forces that focus on the economy. The remaining budgetary and economic issues will be reassigned,” Frizzell said in the statement.

Many Iowa legislators are ALEC members, including Iowa House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer, who serves as the second vice chairman of ALEC's board.

Progress Iowa, a liberal advocacy group, pounced on Grassley's comments and started a petition drive saying Iowa Coke bottlers would be hurt by any type of boycott. They intend to deliver one bottle of Coke to Grassley's office for every person who signs the online petition. That petition is available at

sendchuckacoke.com