Wal-Mart ending membership in conservative group | Reuters

Wal-Mart ending membership in conservative group | Reuters:

'via Blog this'

ROGERS, Arkansas | Thu May 31, 2012 9:17am EDT

(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's No. 1 retailer and the biggest seller of firearms in the United States, is dropping out of a U.S. conservative advocacy group that has been a lightning rod over voting and gun laws.

Wal-Mart said late Wednesday it is suspending membership in the American Legislative Council (ALEC), which the retailer joined in 1993.

In April, ALEC said it was abandoning the committee that worked on "public safety and elections" to focus on the economy. Despite the change, Wal-Mart decided it was no longer focused on the same issues as the council.

"Previously, we expressed our concerns about ALEC's decision to weigh in on issues that stray from its core mission 'to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets,'" Maggie Sans, Wal-Mart vice president of public affairs and government relations, said in a May 30 letter addressed to ALEC's national chairman and executive director.

"We feel that the divide between these activities and our purpose as a business has become too wide. To that end, we are suspending our membership in ALEC."