Business leaders are often reluctant to wholeheartedly and publicly pick sides in presidential elections. Instead, they generally donate a little to each side, and lobby in private for their preferred choice (almost always Republicans who will cut their taxes).
But the CEO of Expensify took the leap today, sending out an email to his company’s 10 million customers, urging them to vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The company makes expense management systems for other businesses (you know, when you have to submit expense reports), so their “customers” are generally the managers and owners of other businesses.
This is how it’s done.
Excerpt (bold and italics are his):
I know you don’t want to hear this from me. And I guarantee I don’t want to say it. But we are facing an unprecedented attack on the foundations of democracy itself. If you are a US citizen, anything less than a vote for Biden is a vote against democracy.
That’s right, I’m saying a vote for Trump, a vote for a third-party candidate, or simply not voting at all -- they’re all the same, and they all mean:
“I care more about my favorite issue than democracy. I believe Trump winning is more important than democracy. I am comfortable standing aside and allowing democracy to be methodically dismantled, in plain sight.”
An article about it is at: www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/…
(The same article is also on Bloomberg but behind the paywall. www.bloomberg.com/...)
One more excerpt:
Q: But you’re a company, shouldn’t you remain neutral?
Expensify depends on a functioning society and economy; not many expense reports get filed during a civil war. As CEO of this business, it’s my job to plot a course through any storm -- and all evidence suggests that another 4 (or as Trump has hinted -- 8, or more?) years of Trump leadership will damage our democracy to such an extent, I’m obligated on behalf of shareholders to take any action I can to avoid it. I am confident our democracy (and Expensify) can survive a Biden presidency. I can’t say the same about Trump. It’s truly as simple as that.
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His full email is at: community.expensify.com/...