That’s rich: Party of big business now wants CEOS out of politics
Republican leaders now want CEOS and private enterprises to stay out of politics?
Gov. Greg Abbott is upset that Major League Baseball, and its workers, who are predominantly people of color, oppose laws designed to suppress voting by people of color. Because the league called out Georgia Republicans for trying to preserve their hold on power, Abbott canceled his appearance at the Texas Rangers’ home opener.
Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick declared: “Texans are fed up with corporations that don’t share our values trying to dictate public policy.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, who has gleefully delivered legislation worth billions of dollars for his big-moneyed benefactors, has suddenly decided he doesn’t like those same people badmouthing his party’s racist initiatives.
“I found it completely discouraging to find a bunch of corporate CEOS getting in the middle of politics,” Mcconnell said Monday. “My advice to the corporate CEOS of America is to stay out of politics. Don’t pick sides in these big fights.”
Mcconnell said that they “will invite serious consequences if they become a vehicle for far-left mobs to hijack our country.”
Yes, the national leader of the Republican Party threatened the CEOS of American Airlines, Dell, Delta Airlines, Coca-cola, United Airlines, Dow, HP, Twitter, Estée Lauder, Under Armour, Salesforce, Viacomcbs, Bain and Company, SAP, Fifth Avenue, Etsy, H&M, Weber Shandwick, Instacart, Levis, Microsoft, Morning Star, Mondelez, Paypal,
Keurig Dr Pepper and more than 100 other top corporate leaders.
The party that celebrated the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that gave corporations and the wealthy almost unlimited influence over elections is suddenly denouncing business leaders for speaking their minds?
I would prefer to write less about politics and more about economics and industry. But we no longer live in an age where commerce and legislating only intersect a few times a year when the chamber of commerce asks for lower taxes and less regulation.
For decades, the GOP presented itself as the party of free markets. Former Gov. Rick Perry spent most of his time focused on lowering taxes, reducing regulations, and attracting corporate relocations. He was focused on business and liked to say that he didn’t leave the Democratic Party; it left him.
The corporate world is beginning to realize the GOP is leaving
them, prioritizing culture wars and power-grab politics that average Americans do not countenance. America’s CEOS would not be so woke if Republicans were more moderate and their consumers less terrified.
Politically, Abbott fears extremists like Patrick more than he worries about corporate leaders and their customers, even though he has $40 million in his campaign account. He’s
also focused on his milliondollar-plus donors such as Midland Energy founder Syed Javaid Anwar, construction magnate James Pitcock Jr. and Weather Channel heirs Mike and Mary Porter than the CEOS of publicly traded corporations.
None of his top donors run consumer-facing businesses, and most are focused on fundamentalist conservatism. I will watch whether other major
donors, such as Gulf States Toyota PAC, the Border Health PAC, and Tilman Fertitta, continue writing six-figure checks to the governor.
Fertitta, especially, since he seems like a typical CEO donor. He gave Patrick $200,000, the same as Abbott, and provided smaller amounts to both Democratic and Republican leaders. He seems more interested in who has influence over legislation than promoting an ideology.
Before I wrote columns, I supervised the Associated Press’ coverage of Texas politics, and I met a lot of lobbyists. I often found them rolling their eyes at culture war legislation after the Tea Party emerged in 2010. But they continued to give GOP leaders cash because they needed minor, technical bills passed for their business clients.
Over the years, though, lobbyists tell me the threats have become more explicit: If the business community chimes in on GOP red-meat issues, those other bills will get lost in the shuffle. Since business leaders no longer control the Republican primary, Republican politicians
no longer feel beholden to them.
Perhaps that explains the Greater Houston Partnership’s milquetoast response when asked about Texas’ voter suppression bill. Or the silence from oil and gas corporations when Patrick passed a bill making it harder to vote through the Senate in the middle of the night.
Texas Republicans performed better than expected in the 2020 elections, and the business community would be foolish to bet against them. But Republicans do not like the trend lines. In an act of naked partisanship, Patrick had to revamp the Senate filibuster rule to keep Democrats powerless after they won an additional seat.
The CEOS who are speaking out are representing their company’s values and recognizing their employees’ and customers’ concerns. They also recognize the rising tide, one that has GOP leaders raging against the coming storm.