Opinion

Editorial: McConnell to businesses. Show us the money, then go away

Monday, April 12, 2021 -- Rather than threatening these corporations for the responsible stand they've taken, Sen. Mitch McConnell and others seeking to restrict voting should recognize their own overreach. One thing successful businesses - such as MLB, Coca Cola and Delta - usually understand is their customers and what they need to do to keep them.

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CBC Editorial: Monday, April 12, 2021; Editorial #8658
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company.

When it comes to American corporations expressing themselves, Republican U.S. Sen Mitch McConnell would rather these businesses put their money where their mouths are than listening to them when they speak and act up.

He was outraged last week at the temerity of corporations as they took firm stands against Georgia’s new laws to restrict voter access to the polls and make voting more complicated. “The best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game and MLB Draft,” said Robert Manfred, Major League Baseball’s commissioner in announcing the decision to move the game from Atlanta. “Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.”
McConnell couldn’t contain his outrage. “We are witnessing a coordinated campaign by powerful and wealthy people to mislead and bully the American people,” McConnell said after MLB’s announcement and other corporations – particularly Atlanta-based Coca Cola and Delta Airlines – echoed similar concerns.
“My warning, if you will, to corporate America is to stay out of politics. It’s not what you’re designed for, he said during a news conference later in Kentucky. “This is an issue that the big corporations in America, Major League Baseball being one of the biggest, should stay out of.”
Those comments couldn’t contrast more sharply with McConnell’s own words, previously, in defense of corporations involvement in politics – particularly in the form of cash contributions and in defense of the famous “Citizens United” Supreme Court decision.
"All Citizens United basically did was to level the playing field for corporate America … and say you like a media company can... independently express your views about anything in this country. Why shouldn't everybody be free to do that?"
"For too long, some in this country have been deprived of full participation in the political process ... the Constitution protects their right to express themselves about political candidates and issues.”

McConnell’s fine with taking the corporate campaign money, but if they dare to take a stand contrary to McConnell’s they’d best shut up or watch out.

Now he has, to a small degree, attempted to retreat a bit from his “warning.” But that only came a day after, on two separate occasions, he expressed his anger and threat.

McConnell is all for unfettered corporate speech when it’s about cozying up to him and his political allies in closed-door briefings. He’s their biggest cheerleader when these businesses act in their corporate interest to funnel millions into campaigns and political action committees that pursue ideological and partisan agendas that help him stay in office and maintain his power.

But when they act as matter of conscience, as they’ve done to stand against laws that restrict access to voting, he demands they shut up. Like Victorian children, McConnell’s corporations should be seen and not heard.

The reality is that corporations rarely act as they did against the Georgia law. North Carolina knows that all too well. As the state’s legislative leaders lavished pro-business legislation and corporate tax cuts, they and former Gov. Pat McCrory mistakenly believed it gave them immunity from overreaching.

But the HB2 debacle shows that there are limits as businesses stopped planned North Carolina expansions, big-name entertainers cancelled performances and major professional and collegiate sporting events – including the NBA All-Star Game – moved to different venues.

Not only did it cost the state in cold-hard cash – at least $3.76 billion – but more significantly it was a blow to the state’s status. Legislators and McCrory should have heeded Ben Franklin’s admonition: “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation and just one to lose it.”

At issue here is not the behavior of the business community, as McConnell would like it, but the actions of the Kentucky senator’s partisan allies in Georgia.

Rather than threatening these corporations for the responsible stand they’ve taken, he and others seeking to restrict voting should recognize their own overreach. One thing successful businesses – such as MLB, Coca Cola and Delta – usually understand is their customers and what they need to do to keep them.

The problem here is McConnell and the off-the-charts election manipulations of his allies – not the businesses that are speaking up about it.

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