Over 100 executives hold call on halting donations, investments to fight voting bills

[DonViejo]

Posted Yesterday at 10:36 PM Updated April 11INCREASE FONT SIZEResize Font

The meeting represents an aggressive dialing up of corporate America's stand against controversial voting measures.

BY TODD C. FRANKEL THE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — More than 100 chief executives and corporate leaders gathered online Saturday to discuss taking new action to combat state voting bills being considered across the country, including the one recently signed into law in Georgia.

Executives from major airlines, retailers and manufacturers – plus at least one owner of a National Football team – talked about ways to show that they opposed the legislation, including by halting donations to politicians who support the bills and delaying investments in states that pass the restrictive measures, according to four people who were on the call, including one of the organizers, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale University management professor.

While no final steps were agreed upon, the meeting represents an aggressive dialing up of corporate America’s stand against controversial voting measures nationwide, a sign that their opposition to the laws did not end with the fight against the Georgia legislation passed in March.

It also came days after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., warned that firms should “stay out of politics” – echoing a call shared by many conservative politicians and setting up the potential for additional conflict between Republican leaders and the heads of some of America’s largest firms. This month, former president Donald Trump called for conservatives to boycott Coca-Cola, Major League Baseball, Delta Air Lines, Citigroup, ViacomCBS, UPS and other companies after they opposed the law in Georgia that critics say will make it more difficult for poorer voters and voters of color to cast ballots. Baseball officials decided to move the All-Star Game this summer from Georgia to Colorado because of the voting bill.

more/NO PAYWALL
https://www.pressherald.com/2021/04/11/over-100-executives-hold-call-on-halting-donations-investments-to-fight-voting-bills/

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. This was covered on the S. Rhule show this morning on MSNBC

Link to tweet

[Buns_of_Fire]

2. Hey, Mitch: "Corporations are people, my friend."

Not that I personally agree with the sentiment, but let me add this: "And 'people' that have one helluva lot more money than you do."

[wcmagumba]

3. Hopefully this is not just a pr talking point and some significant actions are actually taken...

A: Corporations are NOT people.

B: I'll wait until they take real actions and are not just talking out loud for the MSM feel good contingent and bs ing the public...

I am quite a cynical b**tard and don't believe much of anything our corporate person "masters" say...

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. A coalition of 60 law firms has joined business leaders to oppose laws making harder to vote

This makes me smile https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121608

A coalition of 60 major law firms has come together “to challenge voter suppression legislation and to support national legislation to protect voting rights and increase voter participation,” said Brad Karp, the chairman of the law firm Paul Weiss and the organizer of the group, which has not been formally announced.

Mr. Karp said the coalition would “emphatically denounce legislative efforts to make voting harder, not easier, for all eligible voters, by imposing unnecessary obstacles and barriers on the right to vote.”

Many of Wall Street’s most powerful firms are also part of the effort, including Simpson Thacher; Skadden Arps; Akin Gump; Cravath, Swaine & Moore; Ropes & Gray; Sullivan & Cromwell; Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Wachtell Lipton.

“We plan to challenge any election law that would impose unnecessary barriers on the right to vote and that would disenfranchise underrepresented groups in our country,” Mr. Karp said.

The firms will work with the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit organization, to identify laws that it might challenge in court. Mr. Karp said that could include challenging the voting law that Republicans passed in Georgia last month, and which set off a national debate over voting rights.