McConnell accuses businesses of ‘economic blackmail’ after many condemn Georgia’s restrictive vote law

McConnell accuses businesses of ‘economic blackmail’ after many condemn Georgia’s restrictive vote law

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“From electoral law to environmentalism to radical social agendas to the Second Amendment, parts of the private sector continue to act like a parallel government that has woken up,” the Kentucky Republican said in a statement Monday. “Corporations will invite serious consequences if it becomes a vehicle for the left-wing crowd to hijack our country from outside the constitutional order.”

“Businesses must not use economic blackmail to spread disinformation and express bad ideas that citizens reject at the ballot box,” he added.

McConnell accuses Democrats of lying about the Georgia law that was hastily passed by state republics and signed last month by Gov. Brian Kemp.

He disputes President Joe Biden’s and others’ claims that Georgia legislation is more reminiscent or worse than Jim Crow-era laws, arguing that “no one really thinks the current dispute comes close to the heinous racist brutality of segregation.”

“Our private sector must stop using directions from the Outrage-Industrial Complex. Americans do not need large companies or want to amplify disinformation or respond to every manufactured controversy with angry left-wing signal,” McConnell said in his statement. adding that “it is frightening to see that powerful American institutions not only allow themselves to be bullied but also participate in the bullying themselves.”

McConnell also complained about Congress’s comprehensive election legislation, the ‘For the People Act’, as a ‘grab’ of power from all 50 states ‘election laws and the Federal Electoral Commission’ which is ‘impossible to defend’, so the left wants to bend. “The measure, which does not have enough votes in the U.S. Senate to pass, would override many of the restrictive provisions in the new Georgia law and others thereof.
Georgia law sets the voter identification requirement for absentee ballots, allows civil servants to take over local election councils, restricts the use of ballot papers and makes it a crime to give or offer food and drink to voters while in the queue waits to vote.

Republican advocates for the law argue that it makes the election in Georgia safer and that it expands access to votes – pointing to the law’s requirement that each province must have at least one drop box for absentee ballots and the extension of early voting in many provinces .

However, the law dramatically reduces the number of subjects for some major provinces, shortens the total length of run-off campaigns as well as the early voting period for run-off elections, and shortens the duration of the absent voting period.

MLB’s move to move the All-Star Game, which could cost Georgia $ 100 million in lost economic impact, was the first in response to the law on the state’s election. Atlanta Democratic Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms predicted on CNN on Saturday that it would be the “first of many boycotts of our state.”

At a news conference on Saturday, Kemp vehemently defended the election law in Georgia, saying he would not waver or be threatened if Georgia lost more events, costing the state more business and tourism dollars.

He accused MLB of putting Democrats’ wishes “ahead of the economic well-being of hard-working Georgians who count on the All-Star Game for a salary.”

Georgia Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock, like other Democrats, said he respected MLB’s decision but hoped businesses would not protest the law by boycotting the state, but “by coming here and oppressing voters. to go ahead.”

After the law was passed, a number of the country’s top black business leaders called on their Fortune 500 counterparts for their muted response to new laws restricting the country’s votes, challenging them to condemn more forcefully what they were deliberately trying to do. . by Republicans to limit the number of black Americans voting in key states.

Last week, American Airlines and Dell Technologies spoke out against a Texas election bill that would place new restrictions on the voting process, especially for those living in densely populated provinces.

At an event in his home state on Monday, McConnell said he “finds it quite discouraging to find a bunch of corporate executives at the center of politics.”

“My advice to the CEOs of America is to stay out of politics,” he added.

McConnell’s statement comes after he previously supported the involvement of businesses in politics, including backing the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in 2010 in the Citizens United case, which gave large corporations more power to spend freely in federal elections. . In 2014, he spoke out against Democrats’ efforts to allow Congress to put spending on corporate campaigns in federal elections, calling it a threat to basic speech rights.

CNN’s Ted Barrett, Eric Bradner, Maeve Reston, Dianne Gallagher and Annie Grayer contributed to this report.

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