Remember all those big corporations that denounced the Jan. 6 insurrection, that swore they would stop giving to the 147 Republican members of Congress who voted against certifying the election even after the attack? (Most of them, of course, also stopped giving to Democrats.) By the beginning of this year they were back at it according to MSNBC, pouring money into those Republican coffers.
Many of the same corporate PACs were full of big talk after George Floyd was killed by police in May 2020. They swore—like Tom Naratil, U.S. president of the financial firm UBS, did on LinkedIn—that “Silence is not an option,” and that they would be investing in promoting racial justice. “We all have a responsibility to call out hate, to stand for what’s right and to turn emotion into constructive action,” Naratil said, and followed up with more than $3 million in donations to the cause.
Now, when they have another chance to put their money where their principles supposedly are, well, they’re still protecting the bottom line. And that means continuing to back the odious Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who rose to power in the Republican Party by going full MAGA white supremacist. Stefanik hasn’t just embraced racism, she’s campaigned on it, blowing up the “great replacement” conspiracy theory in her ads.
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“Radical Democrats are planning their most aggressive move yet: a PERMANENT ELECTION INSURRECTION,” one ad from Stefanik blared. “Their plan to grant amnesty to 11 MILLION illegal immigrants will overthrow our current electorate and create a permanent liberal majority in Washington.”
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UBS, The Washington Post reports, has given $17,500 to Stefanik’s “campaign and political action committees.” And declined to give a comment about it to the Post, which conducted an analysis and found that “UBS was one of 22 large U.S. companies with racial justice pledges that continued donating money to Stefanik after her controversial ads.”
These were all companies that made a very public deal to their customers about using their power, money, and influence to combat racism. Behind the scenes, they’re using their power, money, and influence to make sure they keep all that by keeping Republicans in Congress on their side. UBS, Anheuser Busch, Walgreens, and Raytheon are all among the corporations bankrolling Stefanik and, by extension, white supremacy. That money is going where it counts for them: into directing policymaking in their favor.
The 22 corporations that made racial justice statements have given a total of more than $148,000 to Stefanik’s three campaign funds in the period between Sept. 22—a week after her controversial ad last fall—and the latest reporting period that ended March 31, according to a Post tally. That accounted for more than a quarter of Stefanik’s corporate PAC donations and about 6 percent of the $2.4 million she and her PACs have raised since the ad controversy.
It’s just business, said the corporate spokespeople who did decide to comment to the Post on the story. For example, a senior director at Pfizer, Sharon Castillo, said their “decision to contribute to elected officials is made based on their support of the biopharmaceutical industry and policies that protect innovation incentives and patients’ access to medicines and vaccines.”
The employee-sponsored PAC at General Motors, spokesman Pat Morrisey said, gives to both Democrats and Republicans who “foster sound business policies, support American workers and understand the importance of a robust domestic auto industry as we pursue an all-electric vehicle future.” Right.
Stefanik, by the way, was also one of those 147 election deniers on Jan. 6. Of course.
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