Corporations gave over $50M to voting restriction backers

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By BRIAN SLODYSKO

WASHINGTON (AP) — When executives from Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines spoke out against Georgia’s new voting law as unduly restrictive last week, it seemed to signal a new activism springing from corporate America.

But if leaders of the nation’s most prominent companies are going to reject lawmakers who support restrictive voting measures, they will have to abruptly reverse course.

State legislators across the country who have pushed for new voting restrictions, and also seized on former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud, have reaped more than $50 million in corporate donations in recent years, according to a new report by Public Citizen, a Washington-based government watchdog group.

Telecom giant AT&T was the most prolific, donating over $800,000 since 2015 to authors of proposed restrictions, cosponsors of such measures, or those who voted in favor of the bills, the report found. Other top donors during the same period include Comcast, Philip Morris, United Health, Walmart, Verizon, General Motors and Pfizer.



FILE - In this July 18, 2019, file photo, a sign is displayed at an AT&T retail store in Miami. Corporations have given more than $50 million in recent years to state lawmakers who have seized on Donald Trump’s lies about a stolen 2020 election to push for new restrictions on the right to vote. That's according to a new report by the government watchdog nonprofit Public Citizen. Telecom-giant AT&T was the most prolific giver, donating over $800,000 since 2015 to authors of proposed restrictions, co-sponsors of such measures, or those who voted in favor of the bills, a new report by the Washington-based non-profit Public Citizen found. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-voting-elections-georgia-laws-1ef1f1981b82e8918cc4c8bda0fff1b0

[FreepFryer]

1. They must want their telecom monopoly back (nt)

[Miguelito Loveless]

4. They are about two mergers

away from being a monopoly again.

[sop]

2. "Watch what they do, not what they say."

Public statements made only after the sh*t hits the fan are meaningless if not followed by action. Delta might as well change it's name to Luftwaffe Airlines if all its CEO does is issue some sanctimonious pronouncement about "protecting the voices of our people."

[benfranklin1776]

3. A good boycott list.

Hit em where it hurts. They need and want our cash so they shouldn’t get a dime from us until and unless they change their sedition supporting ways. And so every one of their chirpy entreaties to use their services, of which there are alternatives, should be me with a resounding “no way, not until you quit underwriting the destruction of our democracy.”

[Cozmo]

6. Absolutely, Ben, thanks!

[bringthePaine]

5. get the corporate and religious money out of politics, then watch what happens...