After publicly patting himself on the back for cut off financial support for the election deniers in the wake of the storming of the Capitol two years ago, many companies and corporate lobbying groups are again pumping money to politicians who are trying to subvert democracy, according to a new report.
Major corporations are “turning the spigot back on” and donating millions of dollars to election denial using political action committees, Mrs. Jones reported on Thursday.
More than half of the 70 corporate-linked political action committees that vowed to pause or reconsider donations to lawmakers after the Capitol riots failed to keep their promises, Politico reported there.
The company donated more than $10 million to members trying to block the certification of the 2020 election results, Politico found in an examination of federal campaign finance filings. That includes Walmart, Comcast, Lockheed Martin, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, PricewaterhouseCoopers and AT&T.
Thirty-four Fortune 100 companies pledged to suspend support for the voter turnout, then gave $5.4 million to voter turnout, according to the analysis by the watchdog organization Accountable US. Between top donor out of 34 namely Abbot Laboratories, Cigna, Ford Motor, General Motors, Home Depot, Intel, UPS, Verizon and Johnson & Johnson.
“So many companies seek recognition to stop political spending after January 6, then quietly reopen the spigot of money to election deniers when they thought no one was paying attention,” Jeremy Funk, spokesman for Accountability, told Politico.
“A company that claims to be an ally of democracy and then gives millions in rewards to members of parliament who try to finish what the rebels started has shown that they are never serious,” he said.
At top five business or lobbying groups tracked giving money to the election deniers since the rebellion of the National Beer Wholesalers Association Political Action Committee, the American Banker Association PAC, the Automobile Dealers Association PAC, the Building Political Action Committee of the National Association of Home Builders, and AT&T, according to Accountability USA.
Home Depot, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and UPS are in Accountable’s top ten, while Comcast, Raytheon Technologies, Honeywell International and General Dynamics make up the 20 most generous donors to election denials, according to data tracked by Accountable. (See figure here.)
Anheuser-Busch, Toyota, Major League Baseball, The National Football League’s Gridiron PAC, supermarket chains Publix and Delta, American and Southwest Airlines own them all spend money for the rejection of the electionMrs. Jones reported.
Election deniers are still ensconced in the federal government. Only two of the 147 members voted against the certifying state after January 6 riots lost the reelection bid in the general election; 130 remain in Congress, Politico points out. More than 170 newly elected and returning Republicans have denied or cast doubt on the 2020 results.
Beneficiaries of the company’s short attention span include Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who just made a major power concession to become House speaker with Republican lawmakers who support the 2021 uprising.
US companies also helped fund the re-election of Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.). Kelly, who pushed to block the certification of the Election and has bashed the confidence of the Capitol riotersMrs. Jones reported.
Check out the report Politico is here and Mrs. Jones is here.