Delta faces backlash in Georgia for cutting NRA ties
ATLANTA — Georgia’s lieutenant governor on Monday threatened to prevent Delta Air Lines from getting a lucrative tax cut after the company ended its discount program with the National Rifle Association, in the latestfallout from a deadly school shooting in Florida.
NRA supporters were mounting their own campaigns amid social-media calls for a boycott of the association mount following this month’s deadly school shooting in Parkland, Fla. Even FedEx, operator of the world’s largest cargo airline, has found itself in the crosshairs of NRA critics — and it has given no sign of budging from the discounts on shipping it offers to members of the nonprofit.
Delta is part of a growing chorus of businesses cutting ties with the NRA after the Valentine’s Day shooting at a Florida high school left 17 people dead. But now the airline is coming under attack, with Georgia’s lieutenant governor threatening a sales tax exemption making its way through the Legislature.
Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, president of the state Senate and a leading candidate to succeed Gov. Nathan Deal, tweeted that he would use his position to sink the proposed sales taxexemption on jet fuel.
“I will kill any tax legislation that benefits @Delta unless the company changes its position and fully reinstates its relationship with @NRA,” Mr. Cagle tweeted. “Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect usnot to fight back.”
More than a dozen companies, including Metlife, Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, Best Western, Wyndham and United Airlines have ended NRA partnerships since the school shooting. Police say the suspect, 19year-old Nikolas Cruz, gunned down students with an AR-15 assaultstyle rifle.
On Saturday, both Delta and United said they will no longer offer discounted fares to NRA members to attend their annual meetings, and both have asked the gun rights group to remove any references to their companies from the NRA website.
Mr. Cagle’s comments come as Delta, one of the Georgia’s largest employers, appeared close to convincing lawmakers to restore a $50 million sales tax exemption on jet fuel. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta would be the prime beneficiary of the tax cut.
The proposed exemption had been part of Mr. Deal’slarger tax overhaul, which passed the House andawaits Senate input.
Mr.Cagle was not alone in his push to punish the airline, and the issue appeared poised to become part of the upcoming gubernatorial race.
Sen. Michael Williams, another Republican candidate for governor who had opposed the Delta tax cut before the NRA controversy, praised Mr. Cagle’s statement. He applauded Mr. Cagle for listening to what he says is the “vast majority” of Republican senators who now want to quash the proposed jet fuel tax cut.
A spokeswoman for the governor did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives at Delta and the NRA did not respond to requests for comment Mondayevening.