National Post (National Edition)
Heavyweights halt political donations in U.S.
Microsoft, BlackRock, Google, Facebook
Microsoft Corp., Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google said they will pause political contributions after a deadly pro-Trump riot in the U.S. Capitol last week that aimed to disrupt certification of president-elect Joe Biden.
Software giant Microsoft said its political action committee decided on Friday that it will not make any political donations “until after it assesses the implications of last week's events.” The company's PAC regularly pauses donations in the first quarter of a new Congress, but it will “take additional steps this year to consider these recent events and consult with employees.”
Microsoft has come under renewed pressure from some employees on social media to disband MSPAC after several years of complaints that the group's bipartisan giving involves donations to politicians who vote contrary to Microsoft's stated positions on issues like immigration and LGBT rights. Some legislators that Microsoft backs voted against certifying Biden.
Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said the social networking company is pausing all of its PAC contributions “for at least the current quarter while we review our policies.” A spokesman for Alphabet Inc.'s Google said it was doing the same.
Beyond the tech industry, banking giants such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are also planning to pause political contributions. Marriott International Inc. and Dow Inc. said they would suspend donations to lawmakers who voted against certifying Biden.
BlackRock Inc. has also halted political donations. The world's largest asset manager will pause contributions to campaigns of public officials through its political action committee, Kate Fulton, BlackRock's head of U.S. public policy, said in a memo on Monday.
“In light of the horrific events in the nation's capital, BlackRock has decided to pause any further donations to campaigns of public officials from the BlackRock PAC, while we conduct a thorough review of the events and evaluate how we will focus our political activity going forward,” Fulton said in the memo, which was viewed by Bloomberg News.
Coca-Cola Co., too, said it is suspending political donations, aside from a previously planned contribution to the inauguration, as a result of the “unlawful and violent events in our nation's capital last week.”
The beverage giant said in an emailed statement that the situation will factor into future contribution decisions, without specifying exactly how. Coke will still follow through with its plan to give a US$50,000 cash donation and US$60,000 in commemorative bottles to the inauguration of Biden.
Microsft's MSPAC, made contributions to senators Roger Marshall and Cynthia Lummis, as well as representatives such as Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise in the most recent election cycle, according to a spreadsheet shared by the Pinboard Twitter account, run by tech entrepreneur and activist Maciej Ceglowski. All four lawmakers voted to oppose Biden's certification as president.
Microsoft's PAC made a total of US$820,500 in donations to federal candidates in the 2019-20 election cycle, 57 per cent of that to Republicans and 43 per cent to Democrats, according to Open Secrets, which tracks contributions.
In October, Bloomberg reported that Microsoft makes more U.S. political donations to climate obstructionists in the Senate and Congress than to politicians that support climate causes, despite the company's aggressive goals to reduce carbon emissions.
Microsoft already suspended donations from MSPAC in 2019 in response to employee concerns and said it was implementing changes based on questions about transparency and how it makes decisions around donations but the PAC quietly restarted giving later that year with few apparent alterations.
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