WASHINGTON (AP) – When executives from Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines spoke out against the new law on Georgia last week as excessively restrictive, it appears to be a new activism emanating from the American business world.
But if leaders of the country’s best-known companies reject lawmakers who support restrictive voting measures, they will suddenly have to reverse the course.
State legislators across the country who have campaigned for new voting restrictions and also used former President Donald Trump’s unfounded allegations of electoral fraud have raised more than $ 50 million in corporate donations in the past year, according to a new Public Citizen report, a Washington-based watchdog group.
Telecom giant AT&T was the most prolific and has donated more than $ 800,000 since 2015 to authors of proposed restrictions, proponents of such measures, or those who voted in favor of the bills. Other top donors during the same period include Comcast, Philip Morris USA, UnitedHealth Group, Walmart, Verizon, General Motors and Pfizer.
The money may not have been given for the purposes of voting laws, but it has nonetheless helped strengthen Republican control in state houses, where many of the bans are now moving forward.
Whether companies continue to give to these legislators will test how far risk-averse corporate leaders are willing to go in their increasingly powerful critique of the restrictive efforts, which rights groups have voiced as an attack on democracy.
“It’s actually the U.S. businesses that fund these politicians,” said Mike Tanglis, one of the report’s authors. “It seems like a lot of people are trying to hide under a rock and hope this issue passes.”
More than 120 companies outlined earlier in the report said they would reconsider their donations to members of Congress, who on the same lies as state lawmakers object to the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory after the deadly attack on US Capitol by Trump supporters.
The tension is now most evident in Georgia, where a sweeping new voting law has drawn intense national scrutiny, sparking criticism from Delta and Coca-Cola. MLB announced on Friday that it will no longer host the 2021 All-Star Game in Atlanta.
Yet it is unclear whether this aggressive new attitude will contribute to the donation practices of corporate campaigns. And early indicators show that there is risk.
Georgia’s Republican-controlled House voted to strip Delta of a tax cut worth tens of millions of dollars annually for their criticism of the new law, although the action was dissatisfied after the IDP Senate could not take it up before the legislative session was adjourned.
What is certain, however, is that the withholding of corporate donations to candidates at the state level, as many companies have done at the federal level, would have a much greater impact in state houses.
A $ 5,000 contribution to a U.S. senator raising $ 30 million is a drop in the bucket. “But in some of these state races, a few thousand dollars can buy a lot of advertising time,” Tanglis said. “If American businessmen are unacceptable at the federal level (Trump’s lie), what about at the state level?”
Public Citizen analyzed about 245 bills restricting votes proposed before March 1st. They cleared out a list of sponsors and cosponsors while also investigating voice calls. They then crossed the data with donation records at the state level dating back to 2015, which included money from committees for political actions, as well as direct contributions from corporate taxes.
Among their findings:
Companies have donated at least $ 50 million to lawmakers who support voting restrictions, including $ 22 million in the 2020 campaign cycle.
At least 81 Fortune 100 businesses have given a total of $ 7.7 million to supporters of the restrictions.
Nearly half of all Fortune 500 businesses donated $ 12.8 million to supporters of the restrictions.
About three-quarters of the companies that changed their donation policies after the attack on the U.S. Capitol also gave to lawmakers who support the restrictions on voting rights.
More than 60 companies have donated at least $ 100,000 to lawmakers who support the restrictions.
Separately, industry groups and trade associations have contributed an additional $ 36 million to lawmakers, of which $ 16 million was given during the 2020 cycle.
In response, AT&T said that ‘the right to vote is sacred’, but declined to say whether the company would withhold donations to state legislators as for members of Congress who objected to Biden’s victory.
‘We understand that election laws are complicated, not the expertise of our company and ultimately the responsibility of elected officials. But as a company, we have a responsibility to engage, ‘said AT&T CEO John Stankey in a statement.
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg said in a statement: “We are strongly opposed to the adoption of legislation or the adoption of any measure that would make it more difficult” to vote. But he stopped promising any specific action.
Comcast said in a statement that “efforts to restrict or impede access to this important constitutional right for any citizen are not in line with our values.” The company declined to comment on whether it would evaluate the legislation to legislators who support the measures.
Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris USA, said in a statement that “every voter should be able to exercise their right to vote” and pledged to monitor legislators “in line with our political contribution as guidelines for future decisions about contributions. ‘
Other companies listed in the report declined to comment or respond to inquiries from The Associated Press.
On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged companies to resist what he calls a “coordinated campaign by powerful and wealthy people to deceive and bully the American people.”
“Our private sector must stop using clues from the Outrage-Industrial Complex,” the Kentucky Republican said in a statement. “Americans do not need big business or want to strengthen it … or respond to every controversy produced with wild leftist signal.”
The pressure was particularly intense in Georgia, where Republican Gov. Brian Kemp recently signed a new law banning people from handing out food or water to voters waiting in line, allowing the Republican-controlled state election council to remove and replace election officials. , under many other provisions.
Two of the top recipients of corporate contributions set out in the Public Citizen report were among the sponsors of the measure.
Since 2015, Republican Senate Jeff Mullis has raised more than $ 869,000 in donations from corporate PACs. Among the top corporate donors were AT&T ($ 15,900) and UnitedHealth Group ($ 12,900), according to the report. Mullis is chairing the Georgian Senate Rules Committee, which plays a key role in determining the bills that come to the floor.
Republican Sen. Butch Miller, another sponsor of the bill, has received at least $ 729,000 in corporate donations since 2015. Leading corporate donors include UnitedHealth Group ($ 15,700) and AT&T ($ 13,600), the report said.
Miller and Mullis did not respond to requests for comment.