NAACP boycotts Giants in wake of donation

SAN FRANCISCO – Charles Johnson, one of the principal owners of the San Francisco Giants, doesn’t keep up with the news.

That’s the explanation Johnson’s attorney Joe Cotchett offered Monday when asked why Johnson and his wife Ann each donated the maximum $2,700 to the campaign of Cindy Hyde-smith, a Republican U.S. Senator from Mississippi who has come under fire recently for expressing racist remarks.

“I’m not so sure that Charlie reads the paper every day the way you and I read the paper,” Cotchett said at his Burlingame office. “He reads the sports section.”

Johnson’s donation to Hyde-smith was received November 20, several days after she said she would “be on the front row” if invited to a public hanging. Additionally, a photo discovered on Hyde-smith’s Facebook page showed her with confederate items and a caption, “Mississippi History at its best!”

Election filings revealed Johnson’s donation was made about a month after Johnson requested a $1,000 contribution to the super PAC Black Americans for the President’s Agenda be returned after the group created racist ads in support of Arkansas congressman French Hill.

Johnson, 85, resides in Palm Beach, Florida and does not grant interviews. Cotchett has represented the former chairman of Franklin Templeton for 40 years and said Johnson has a long history of donating to conservative political candidates and political action committees.

However, Cotchett also said his client often writes checks without researching the backgrounds and positions of candidates who receive his financial support.

“He had never met (Hyde-smith) and he didn’t know her,” Cotchett said.

After Johnson’s donation to Black Americans for the President’s Agenda was returned, he issued a rare public statement condemning racism.

“I had absolutely no knowledge that this donation would be used in this manner and I, like the Giants Civil rights attorney John Burris announces that he will be boycotting the San Francisco Giants during a press conference, Monday, Nov. 26 in San Francisco.

organization, strongly condemn any form of racism and in no way condone the advertisement that was created by this entity,” Johnson wrote on October 19.

Though Cotchett said he would recommend Johnson request his contribution to Hyde-smith’s campaign be returned, Johnson has yet to take action.