GEORGIA PUNISHES DELTA FOR PULLING NRA DISCOUNT

ATLANTA Georgia politicians punished Delta Air Lines Thursday for cutting business ties with the National Rifle Association.

Delta employs 33,000 workers in Georgia and its Atlanta hub has made Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport the busiest in the world.

But state Republican politicians were outraged when Delta made a decision to stop offering NRA members discounted fares in the wake of the deadly Valentine’s Day shooting at a Florida high school.

Georgia’s governor, Nathan Deal, shown inset, criticized both sides for the “unbecoming squabble” but on Thursday the state’s Senate stripped a provision out of a bill that would have benefitted the airline by giving them a tax break on fuel.

The move passed the GOP-dominated Senate 4410, with only Democrats opposed.

The Senate’s presiding officer, Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, vowed Monday to stop any tax break that would benefit Delta — sparking a showdown at the state capitol between gun-rights supporters and one of Georgia’s largest private employers.

“Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back,” Cagle tweeted Monday.

Cagle took a softer tone in celebrating victory Thursday.

“Obviously the political environment does sometimes get a little testy, but in the end, it’s all about the product,” said Cagle.

But Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy praised Delta for its move and invited the company to move to his state.

In a letter, Malloy commended Delta CEO Ed Bastian for his “courage in standing up to” the NRA.

Similar overtures have been made by New York and Virginia.