- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday rejected his demand that companies “stay out of politics”.
- McConnell and other Republicans condemn big corporations for speaking out against Georgia’s restrictive suffrage.
- The Republican of Kentucky reviewed his criticism, saying that businesses “are definitely entitled to be involved in politics.”
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday withdrew his demand that corporations “stay out of politics,” with the exception of political donations, because big companies are protesting the limited voting rights against Georgia.
“I did not say it very artfully yesterday,” the Kentucky Republican told reporters earlier this week. “They are definitely entitled to be involved in politics.”
“My complaint about the CEOs is that they should read the damn bill,” he added.
Major League Baseball announced last Friday that it would withdraw its All-Star game from Atlanta in response to Georgia legislation, which has widely condemned civil rights activists as a racist repression attempt. Georgia-based companies, including Coca-Cola, Delta and Home Depot, have argued that the voting law is based on the GOP’s lies about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
On Monday, McConnell hacked at companies speaking out against the law. Prominent Republicans have called for boycotts and tax increases on the companies they speak out, naming the corporations “hypocrites” because they continue in authoritarian countries.
“My advice to America’s executives is to stay out of politics. Do not take sides in these big battles,” McConnell told a news conference on Monday. He goes on to accuse companies of behaving like an ‘awake alternative government’, warning that they could become a vehicle for the leftist crowd to hijack our country from outside the constitutional order. ‘
But after critics pointed out that McConnell at the same time strongly supported corporate political speech in the form of donations to politicians, the legislature explained that there were exceptions to his new mandate.
“I’m not talking about political contributions,” he told reporters on Tuesday. ‘I’m talking about taking a stand on a highly contagious issue like this and punishing a community or a state for not liking a specific law they passed. I think it’s stupid. ‘
McConnell, a major beneficiary of corporate donations, is one of the GOP’s most outspoken opponents of campaign finance reform. He has long argued that businesses have rights to first amendment and that corporate donations are protected political speech.