Florida GOP leaders bash ‘woke’ corporations
Officials stumble over election, transgender bills
TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s top Republicans are bashing corporations that criticized a move to ban transgender athletes from competing in competitions of the gender with which they identify, as well as a Georgia election law that restricts mail voting methods, hinting there’ll be repercussions for any company that tries to boycott the state.
But at the same time, the GOP-led Florida Legislature is moving forward with an agenda that aligns with the wishes of powerful Florida companies, which haven’t spoken out against a similar elections bill or the transgender bill.
“I guess they have the right to do what they want, but if you’re going to stick your beak into issues that don’t directly concern you, then I think elected officials are then going to stick their beak into issues that may not concern them,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a Fox News interview Sunday, referring to Major League Baseball’s decision to move this year’s All-Star Game from Atlanta to
Denver over Georgia’s election law.
DeSantis signed a bill late Monday night pushed by big business lobbies (SB 50) that uses increased online sales tax collections to cut unemployment taxes for businesses. The Legislature is poised to pass bills favored by insurers to reduce coverage of roof repairs. DeSantis also said last week he’s opposed to a move in the Senate to increase the maximum weekly unemployment benefit from $275 to $375.
Dozens of corporations signed on to a statement calling voting the “lifeblood of
CHRIS O’MEARA/AP
our democracy” and criticizing attempts to restrict voting access. None of those companies, however, are typically major donors to statelevel campaigns in Florida, such as Walt Disney Co., Florida Power & Light and Universal Orlando.
Republican legislative leaders say they aren’t being swayed by corporate critiques.
The NCAA drew scorn from House Speaker Chris Sprowls after threatening last week to not allow states with transgender athlete bans to host college sports tournaments, just before the House voted in favor of the bill (HB 1475).
“We couldn’t care less. We really couldn’t,” said Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor. “This is now a movement you’re seeing in corporate America that, whether it’s the NCAA today or it might be someone tomorrow, that we’re going to use our corporate largesse to bully the state.”
But the Senate version of the bill (SB 2012) was postponed in
committee Tuesday, and bill sponsor Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, said it’s unlikely they’ll have enough time in the session to pass the bill. The session is scheduled to end April 30.
The heated rhetoric from Republicans, though, isn’t slowing down. If DeSantis merely hinted that he’d hurt corporations that criticize GOP policies, his predecessor as governor, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, issued an explicit threat Monday to “woke” businesses.
“Your latest attempts to hurt Georgia’s economy will help us do something that is long overdue — make corporate welfare a thing of the past,” Scott wrote in an op-ed for Fox News. “There will be no number of well-connected lobbyists you can hire to save you. There will be no amount of donations you can make that will save you. There will be nowhere for you to hide.”
Corporate largess in Florida has been historically more likely to be used to pad the political committees of both major parties than to take stands on social issues. Republicans, who have controlled the
legislative and executive branches in Tallahassee since 1999, have received the lion’s share, but Democrats have received donations from major corporations as well.
Democrats, though, have slammed what they call the hypocrisy of Republicans’ criticism of corporations’ “woke” activism while accepting their political donations. House Democratic co-leader Evan Jenne of Dania Beach said Republicans are wrong to ignore the warnings of the NCAA.
“All this tough guy talk — ‘bring it on, bring it on’ — why tempt fate like that?” Jenne said. “Why not listen to what they’re saying and understanding that we’re moving in a direction that may be very negative economically for the state of Florida?”
Jenne added, though, that he would never support a boycott of Florida.
Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, sponsor of HB 7041, Florida’s elections bill, dared corporations to criticize his bill and Florida elections laws in general, noting that
New York and other states have fewer early voting days and more obstacles for voting.
Even so, he removed a part of the bill that would have criminalized giving water or food to voters standing in line within 150 feet of a polling place, one of the main similarities the Florida bill has with the new Georgia law, which goes much farther in restricting voting access. The Senate version of the bill, SB 90, also was changed to keep drop boxes, removing the part of the bill that would’ve eliminated the drop boxes, which were a source of convenience for those who case votes by mail last year.
Even as the Legislature moves to water down the elections bill and struggle to pass the transgender bill, Republicans say they aren’t backing down to big businesses.
“The state of Florida is not going to be bullied by any corporate actor,” Sprowls said. “They can send out as many press releases or as many tweets as they like, it will not impact what we do in the way of policy.”
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