AT&T +1.

Via WFB:

A leading corporate backer of the American Legislative Exchange Council rebuffed an inquiry by a leading Democratic senator into the nature of its support for the organization.

Telecom giant AT&T told Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) in a recent letter that his questions about the company’s support for ALEC, a free market group that writes model legislation in conjunction with state legislators and private stakeholders, appear political in nature.

Critics have suggested that Durbin’s inquiry is designed to intimidate companies into ceasing their support for the group.

It is “inescapable that any response to your request will be used by those interests whose purpose is to pressure corporations to de-fund organizations and political speech with which they disagree,” wrote senior vice president James Cicconi.

AT&T has already been subject to such pressure campaigns, led by the group Color of Change. That group and others have attempted to tie “stand your ground” laws to the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin and subsequent acquittal of George Zimmerman, the shooter.