Corporations:
Cutting cash to Trump loyalists
A growing boardroom boycott is threatening the GOP after last week’s riot at the U.S. Capitol, said Alex Isenstadt in Politico .com. Hallmark, American Express, AT&T, and Blue Cross Blue Shield were among several dozen businesses that announced “they were cutting off Republicans who challenged the election results,” stinging lawmakers “who have come to rely on” corporate donations through political action committees, or PACs.
It’s not the first clash between the business community and the Trump administration, which lost support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this summer. Still, “it’s a momentous decision for companies to turn off the cash spigot.”
It’s easier to withhold contributions at the start of a new political cycle, said Michael Hiltzik in the Los Angeles Times. “No one will really notice the drying up of corporate spending unless it persists past midyear 2021.” It’s unlikely it will, because the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling for Citizens United opened the door to unlimited corporate contributions, and companies have gotten used to taking full advantage. In 2020, corporate political contributions reached $3.2 billion. Business have had plenty of chances to change this, yet they have “consistently opposed shareholder resolutions calling for disclosure of political spending.” Until something is done about that, I suspect it will soon be “back to business as usual.”