100 business executives discuss how to combat new voting rules: report

[Rogue Valley]

100 business executives discuss how to combat new voting rules: report

A group of more than 100 business community leaders joined a Zoom call on Saturday to explore what steps they could take to push back against legislation being considered in state legislatures acro…

thehill.com

4/11/21
A group of more than 100 business community leaders joined a Zoom call on Saturday to explore what steps they could take to push back against legislation being considered in state legislatures across the country that would tighten voting laws, The Washington Post reported. Leaders from Delta, American, United, Starbucks, Target, LinkedIn, Levi Strauss and Boston Consulting Group were present on the Zoom call, the Post reported. Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank was also reportedly included in the conversation. Two of the avenues discussed were stopping donations to politicians who support the legislation and postponing investments in states that approve the measures, four people who were on the call told the Post, including one of the organizers, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale management professor. The goal of the call was to bring together companies that have issued their own statements following the signing of Georgia’s voting bill, the Post reported, citing Sonnenfeld. The participants didn't settle on any final steps. The meeting was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The meeting comes as backlash grows against Georgia's recently passed voting law and the GOP battles with companies that have expressed opposition.

Since Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed the bill, companies including Coca-Cola and Delta have have spoken out against the legislation. Earlier this month, Major League Baseball announced that it was pulling the league’s All-Star Game from Atlanta in protest of the legislation. The July game will now be played in Denver, MLB announced this week. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) said last week that it was "quite stupid to jump in the middle of a highly controversial issue." On Wednesday, he backed off his comments, saying at a press conference in Kentucky “I didn’t say that very artfully yesterday. They’re certainly entitled to be involved in politics. They are. My principal complaint is they didn’t read the darn bill.” Lawmakers in Texas advanced legislation on April 1 that would implement new voting restrictions in the state, including limits on polling place hours and reducing options for voters to cast ballots.

Mitch McConnell miscalculated in threatening Big Business. After all, it is Big Business campaign donations that fund the Republican Party.

For some reason (their increasingly fascist ideology?) Republicans just can't seem to understand why their newest anti-American and restrictive voting measures are being met with such deep resistance.

A healthy democracy depends on voting equality for all. What the GOP is doing in numerous states is antithetical to healthy democracy.

 

[Crovax]

McConnell should get the GOP together and drop a 40% corporate tax rate single item bill which I’m sure the dems would jump in on and see how eager big business will be to dip into politics after that

 

[Master Debator]

McConnell should get the GOP together and drop a 40% corporate tax rate single item bill which I’m sure the dems would jump in on and see how eager big business will be to dip into politics after that

I've been saying for a while now that we'd bend the white wing to our will through big business. You want to raise their taxes too? Be our guest. Sounds like a win win. Big Business will still come out against you because not doing so in this day and age is even worse business.

 

[Crovax]

I've been saying for a while now that we'd bend the white wing to our will through big business. You want to raise their taxes too? Be our guest. Sounds like a win win. Big Business will still come out against you because not doing so in this day and age is even worse business.

There is only one color that corporations care about and that’s green. They don’t want to lose money with a controversy now but they will lose a lot more with a doubled tax rate. The will come crawling back to the only party that will cut the taxes.

 

[Master Debator]

There is only one color that corporations care about and that’s green. They don’t want to lose money with a controversy now but they will lose a lot more with a doubled tax rate. The will come crawling back to the only party that will cut the taxes.

What makes you think they haven't already done the calculation or come to the conclusion that siding with a growing minority of angry, white racists is what's ultimately bad for business?

 

[Crovax]

What makes you think they haven't already done the calculation or come to the conclusion that siding with a growing minority of angry, white racists is what's ultimately bad for business?

They don’t have to side with anyone is the point. Taking sides one way or the other on what is not a “white racist” issue will have lasting effects

 

[Master Debator]

They don’t have to side with anyone is the point. Taking sides one way or the other on what is not a “white racist” issue will have lasting effects

They don't have to take a side but that also has business ramifications. We're going to continue to pressure businesses with protests and boycotts and bad press until they bend the white wing over a barrel. And it's absolutely a white racist issue when a bunch of white conservatives start changing election laws against the wishes of nearly all the black voters in the state to increase drop boxes in white neighborhoods while lowering them in black ones. The ridiculousness of that argument is partly why these businesses didn't see any out to denying the obvious.