Following the deadly Capitol siege on Jan. 6, many corporate political action committees (PACs) halted donations while they reevaluated their political giving policies. Some even pledged not to donate to GOP seditionists who voted against certification of the election results. But newly released election commission filings from February reveal three corporate PACs that began re-upping their donations to Republicans after an entire month (or less!) of thinking long and hard about whether to provide financial backing to lawmakers who voted against American democracy.
As Judd Legum of Popular Information documents, Intel originally declared "we will not contribute to members of Congress who voted against certification of the Electoral College results as we feel that action was counter to our company's values." But on February 26, the Intel PAC greenlighted a $15,000 contribution to the National Republican Campaign Committee, the campaign arm for House Republicans. In other words, Intel’s PAC resumed giving to an organization that supports the reelection of House Republicans, about two-thirds of whom voted to oppose the election results. That contribution also supports the effort to make lead GOP seditionist Kevin McCarthy speaker of the House, since he's the heir apparent if Republicans regain control of the lower chamber next year.
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Intel provided a statement to Legum in which the company said its policy of not contributing directly to seditionists "still applies," and it divides its giving "evenly among Republicans and Democrats, including individual candidates, campaign committees and Governors Associations." So apparently Intel is committed to supporting an entire caucus of seditionists as a whole even as it claims not to be directly supporting seditionists. The patriotism clearly runs deep.
AT&T's corporate PAC also found a loophole to its initial pledge to "suspend contributions" to congressional members who voted against certification. The AT&T PAC never said it was suspending donations to PACs run by GOP seditionists. So on February 22, the AT&T PAC gave $5,000 to the House Conservatives Fund, a Republican leadership PAC run by GOP seditionist Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana. Johnson also signed on to an amicus brief pushing the Supreme Court to invalidate millions of votes in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Ah, good one—no direct contributions to seditionists, just to their PACs.
On Jan. 13, Cigna declared its PAC would stop supporting "any elected official who encouraged or supported violence, or otherwise hindered a peaceful transition of power," the company said in a statement. "There is never any justification for violence or the kind of destruction that occurred at the U.S. Capitol last week – a building that stands as a powerful symbol of the very democracy that makes our nation strong." Indeed.
Then on Feb. 4, CignaPAC donated $15,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which is currently headed by GOP seditionist Sen. Rick Scott of Florida. Scott was one of the upper chamber's chief purveyors of disinformation about the election, calling in late November for "major reforms" across the nation "to protect against fraud" that no one has ever proved existed. CignaPAC also donated $15,000 in late February to the NRCC, the GOP's House campaign arm. Cigna claims it is still denying support to "any elected official that encouraged or supported violence on January 6th," to say nothing of its original pledge against supporting those who "otherwise hindered a peaceful transition of power."
Only one party in this nation's two-party system spent over a month systematically stoking distrust of election results without being able to produce a shred of evidence of voter fraud. Only one party in this nation's two-party system is now systematically working to disenfranchise the kinds of voters it doesn't like. Only one party in this nation's two-party system is systematically working to undermine American democracy—Intel, AT&T, and Cigna now enthusiastically support that Republican party. Other corporate PACs will soon follow suit—that's one way to lead.