In 2014, it was corporations and their interest in maintaining the profitability of corporations that led them to pressure the legislature to defeat the so-called religious liberty (“freedom to discriminate”) bills against the LGBTQ community – in Arizona this was SB1062 – when threats of boycotts and responding to pressure from business interests, and worries about losing Super Bowl 2015, Governor Jan Brewer vetoed the bill. It was also business interests that pressured the legislature to defeat the “show me your papers to pee” bills – e.g., SB1045 – both measures championed by Rep. John Kavanagh for Cathi Herrod’s Center for Arizona Policy.
John Kavanagh was previously a champion of anti-immigrant legislation with disgraced and recalled Sen. Russell Pearce and since-defeated notorious racist Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, including the infamous SB1070. Costly SB 1070 brought businesses to the table, “when the Legislature eyed five additional illegal immigration bills this year, 60 CEOs took the unusual step of signing a letter of opposition. They feared the state’s image would take another hit and hurt the economic climate.” See, In Wake Of Immigration Law, Boycott Cost Arizona Millions.
Now Rep. John Kavanagh is using his position as chair of the House Government & Elections Committee to pursue Jim Crow voter suppression bills based upon Donald Trump’s Big Lie that the election was stolen from him in Arizona by “massive voter fraud,” for which there is no evidence to support this Big Lie. (The election results were certified by a bipartisan panel of state officials, the Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Chief Justice). Eight failed lawsuits filed to present any credible evidence of voter fraud.
It’s time for Arizona’s largest corporations to step up once again and to make it known that they do not support these Jim Crow voter suppression laws in the state of Arizona, and will not contribute to the campaigns of any Republicans pursuing these malicious voter suppression bills. The 50 biggest companies in Arizona. Pressure these corporations to do right by the citizens of Arizona. Silence is consent, and they must take affirmative public opposition to these Jim Crow voter suppression bills.
Threats of boycotts, sit-ins at legislative offices, marches and protests, and emails, letters and phone calls to pressure legislators and their corporate campaign donors are in order. Super Bowl LVII is currently scheduled for State Farm Stadium in Glendale on February 5, 2023. If Arizona enacts these Jim Crow voter suppression bills, the NFL and NFLPA should pull the Super Bowl from Arizona.
This corporate accountability campaign is already being applied in Georgia. CNBC reports, Georgia voting rights activists pressure big corporations to oppose GOP-backed ballot restrictions:
Civil rights and activist groups are turning up the pressure on large Georgia companies like Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines to oppose sweeping voting restrictions proposed by Republican state legislators.
“We’ve got the power of organized people. They’ve got the power of organized money. And between us and them, we could put pressure on these legislators or, worst case scenario, the governor to kill these bills,” Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, told CNBC.
Groups including Black Voters Matter, the New Georgia Project Action Fund and the Georgia NAACP on Friday launched the next phase of their campaign in local press and on social media asking supporters to directly contact CEOs, presidents and headquarters of major Georgia-based corporations. They’re urging them to speak out publicly against the proposed voting restrictions and to stop donating money to the Republican legislators sponsoring the bills.
The voter restriction suppression bills come after historic turnout from Georgia voters — particularly from Black voters and voters of color — during the November general and January runoff elections, where Republicans lost the presidential and U.S. Senate races for the first time in decades.
“It’s very, very disappointing after the outpouring of civic engagement all across the state that the legislature would then seek to make it more difficult for Georgia citizens to participate in choosing their elected officials,” Andrea Young, executive director of the Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in an interview.
Republican lawmakers in March passed a bill in the state Senate that would eliminate no-excuse absentee voting, and in the House that would limit weekend early voting, increase ID requirements for absentee voting and restrict ballot drop boxes: SB 241 and HB 531. These proposed restrictions would disproportionately harm Black voters, an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice found.
Advocacy groups are turning to Georgia’s powerful business community because they say trying to sway GOP lawmakers alone has little effect.
“These companies employ hundreds of thousands of Georgia voters who are going to directly be impacted by these laws,” Nse Ufot, CEO of the New Georgia Project, told CNBC. “Voter suppression is not good for business.”
The coalition is focusing on six of the biggest companies in Georgia — Aflac, Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Home Depot, Southern Company and UPS — with full-page ads, demonstrations and text banks. A March 3 investigation by Popular Information found the six corporations gave a combined $190,800 to co-sponsors of HB 531 and SB 241 since 2018.
“Our right to vote must be protected.”
In today’s @ajc, voting rights advocates took out a full-page ad with the names and contact details for top Georgia corporate executives urging them to oppose new election restrictions moving through the Legislature. #gapol pic.twitter.com/lEttAM35UJ
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) March 12, 2021
The activists’ work seems to be seeing some results. Business boosters have come out against certain provisions in the proposed voter restrictions since advocates started their pressure campaign.
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce previously reiterated the importance of voting rights without voicing opposition against any specific legislation. In a new statement to CNBC, the Georgia Chamber said it has “expressed concern and opposition to provisions found in both HB 531 and SB 241 that restrict or diminish voter access” and “continues to engage in a bipartisan manner with leaders of the General Assembly on bills that would impact voting rights in our state.”
Dave Williams, SVP of public policy of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement Monday: “Repealing no-excuse absentee voting does little to make the process more secure, and does so at great risk to participation.”
The Georgia Greater Black Chamber of Commerce told CNBC in a statement: “As for HB 531 and SB 241 Legislators should not rely on the ‘Urgency’ to get these bills signed, take a step back, be open to views that are different and do what is ‘RIGHT’; the Black Business and Community Leaders have expressed they are ‘OPPOSED’. And GGBCC represents them.”
Most of the corporations have not taken a stance in the voting rights debate, instead offering broad stances on voting and elections. All six companies belong to the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, and all but Aflac belong to the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.
Aflac, Coca-Cola, Delta, Home Depot and UPS reiterated their support for fair and secure elections and equal voter participation in statements to CNBC. Southern Company did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Georgia corporations have come out strongly against legislation in the past, like a “religious liberty” bill in 2016 that would have allowed discrimination against same-sex couples (see above). They’ve also mostly stood silent in other debates, like a “heartbeat” anti-abortion bill in 2019 that was ruled unconstitutional in 2020.
Conservative Georgia lawmakers in the past have punished Georgia corporations for certain political moves. Republican legislators killed a major airline tax break after Delta pulled discounts for a National Rifle Association members.
Voting rights activists are not impressed with the statements companies have offered so far on the voting rights debate.
“We need a full throated repudiation of these bills,” New Georgia Project’s Ufot said. “What is your affirmation of how important democracy is when you are witnessing democracy being attacked and you’re silent about it?”
Jerry Gonzalez, chief executive of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, compared the bills to the notorious voting restrictions that kept people of color from casting ballots in the South before the civil rights movement ushered in the Voting Rights Act in the 1960s.
“We have been talking to business partners and chambers of commerce to get them to step up,” Gonzalez told CNBC. “Many of them have taken a strong stand on racial justice issues. Well, this is a Jim Crow voting rights attack that is happening right now.”
Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said business leaders should take an unequivocal stance against the proposed voting restrictions in Georgia and other states on a Tuesday call with voting rights organizations Fair Fight Action, which she founded, and More Than A Vote, founded by NBA superstar LeBron James, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“There should be no silence from the business community when anyone in power is trying to strip away the right to vote from the people,” Abrams said on the call. “There should be a hue and cry.”
Bernice King, the daughter of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said Wednesday she wrote a letter urging CEOs of Georgia-based corporations to oppose the bills and to use their influence with Georgia state legislators to block restrictive legislation.
“It’s not going to be business as usual,” Black Voters Matter’s Albright said. “If you can’t get involved in the business of fighting for democracy, then we’re going to have to get involved in your business.”
It’s time for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry and its affiliated chamber organizations, and Arizona’s largest corporations to stand up and be counted for voting rights by taking a public stand against these malicious Jim Crow voter suppression bills in Arizona.
It is up to the citizens of Arizona to bring public pressure to bear on Arizona corporations to force corporate accountability for these Jim Crow voter suppression bills. These corporations can no longer remain silent in the face of the most sweeping voter suppression since the end of the Reconstruction era. If it takes the threat of another Arizona boycott, so be it.
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
In a pair of columns, The Post’s Jennifer Rubin argues “Make voting rights suppressors pay”, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/16/make-voting-rights-suppressors-pay/
“Republicans might not be amenable to moral or constitutional pleas to protect voting rights, but economic pain might persuade them to cease their ham-handed crusade to disenfranchise voters.”
And “States that pass Jim Crow-style voting laws will feel the backlash”, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/16/business-strikes-back-jim-crow/
Should any of these [voter suppression] measures pass, economic pressure will surely ramp up. Will Georgians and other Americans stop flying on Delta Air Lines, an Atlanta-based company, which has been rather mute during this onslaught against democracy? One can image a real economic blow to an airline already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. Saying that a company favors “fair” elections is insufficient when there is an effort underway to make it more difficult for African Americans to vote (e.g., eliminating early voting on Sundays, when many of the state’s predominantly Black churches conduct their get-out-the-vote initiatives)
It is easy to imagine corporate boycotts against other inert corporations and pressure on, for example, the film industry, now a mainstay of the Georgia economy, to cut off its operations. Tourism, already devastated by covid-19, will not bounce back if visitors decide to not spend their money in a state turning the clock back on voting rights.
The battle will certainly not end in Georgia. With similar efforts to suppress voting underway in a slew of Republican-controlled states such as Texas and Arizona, we are going to see the same backlash play out and similar demands on corporations to take a public stance. Lawsuits and economic boycotts likely will enact a toll on these states.
Two “Progressive groups launch $30 million effort to push voting rights legislation”, https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/15/politics/voting-rights-legislation-push/index.html
Two progressive groups are teaming up to pour $30 million into an effort to persuade US senators to pass a sweeping voting rights bill that would counter efforts by state GOP lawmakers to restrict voting access.
The plan from End Citizens United/Let America Vote and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee is to spend $20 million on a television and digital advertising campaign and $10 million on a grassroots effort to try to get the legislation passed.
“Our goal is to get support to pass this bill and to show members of the Senate that their constituents believe this is a bill that just has to pass,” said Adam Bozzi, vice president of communications for End Citizens United/Let America Vote.
Bozzi said the groups’ efforts will target Democrats as well as Republicans, but he reiterated that their end goal is to ensure the bill is passed whether or not it garners bipartisan support.
“We’re going to make a run at Republicans,” Bozzi said, but “whether it’s with 60 votes or some procedural change, we need to put this bill in a position to be passed.”
The ad campaign is expected to roll out initially in Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Maine and Pennsylvania, and will eventually expand to 12 to 15 states. It was previously reported by The New York Times.
The grassroots effort is expected to include calls and emails to senators, outreach to local activists and funding for national and state-based partners to enlist their members in the push.
“If we ban gerrymandering, protect the right to vote, and give power back to the people, we can have a government that starts prioritizing the needs of its constituents instead of the special interests,” said Kelly Ward Burton, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.