Minority leader in the Senate Mitch McConnell
Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnell Schumer gets his game changer Progressive people fear infrastructure climate plans won’t survive Senate Biden credits McConnell for urging Republicans to get vaccinated MORE (R-Ky.) On Wednesday withdrew his stern warning that major corporations such as Major League Baseball, Delta and Coca-Cola should refrain from high-profile political battles after criticizing Georgia’s new electoral law.
‘Let me say I didn’t say that very artfully yesterday. They certainly have the right to be involved in politics. They are. My main complaint is that they haven’t read the damn bill, ”McConnell said at a news conference in Paducah, Kentucky on Wednesday.
The GOP leader softened his harsh speech earlier this week when he warned companies would have “serious consequences” if they “became a vehicle for far-left crowds to hijack our country.”
He warned that “companies should not use economic blackmail to spread disinformation and spread bad ideas that citizens reject at the polls.”
“I found it utterly discouraging to see a bunch of corporate CEOs getting into the middle of politics,” McConnell said at a news conference in his home state on Monday. “My advice to the CEOs of American companies is to stay out of politics. Don’t take sides in these great battles. “
He doubled down on his warning to corporate America Tuesday when he said, “It’s kind of stupid” for big corporations to “jump into a very controversial issue.”
He warned that companies were at risk of losing business and pointed out that “Republicans also drink Coca-Cola, and we fly and we love baseball.”
He said criticism of Georgia’s new electoral law “irritates a lot of Republican fans.”
McConnell’s warning to companies to “stay out of politics” sparked a double approach by members of the media reporting on McConnell and campaign finance reform advocates, as the GOP leader has raised millions of dollars over his long career from corporate PACs and donors.
And for years he has fought against restrictions on corporate political spending.
It’s absurd. It’s Senator McConnell who believes he can say completely contradictory things and get away with it. He has spent years defending and seeking funding from business leaders, from corporate PACs. He led the challenge to banning soft money, including corporate money, ”said Fred Wertheimer, founder and president of Democracy 21, a nonprofit that tries to limit the influence of money in politics.
Reporters pressed McConnell on Tuesday in Kentucky about how his warning to corporate CEOs to stay out of politics was consistent with asking corporate PACs for political contributions.
He made it clear on Tuesday that he has no problem with companies spending money on behalf of candidates and political parties, immediately accusing him of hypocrisy.
“I’m not talking about political contributions,” he said. “Most of them contribute on both sides, they have political action committees, that’s fine. It’s legal, it’s appropriate, I support that.”
McConnell said he was talking about companies like Major League Baseball taking business out of Georgia to punish it for passing a new electoral law that Republicans say is no more restrictive than laws in New York and Delaware, two Democratic-leaning states.
“I’m talking about taking a position on a highly incendiary issue like this and punishing a community or a state because you don’t like a particular law that’s passed, I just think it’s stupid,” McConnell said Tuesday.
Democrats quickly pounced on the issue.
Democratic strategist Brad Bannon posted on Facebook an edited photo of McConnell with his corporate logos covered with the caption, “The #MoscowMitch message to corporate America is to shut up, but keep sending the checks.”
McConnell retracted his statement on Wednesday that CEOs should stay out of politics to explain that his main problem with Delta, Coca-Cola and other companies is that they injected themselves into the debate over Georgian law without knowing enough about the matter. to have. .
My complaint about the CEOs [is] read the damn bill. They were intimidated into adopting an interpretation of that given by the Georgia Democrats to help them get their way, ”he said Wednesday.
‘And what did it cost them? It looks like it cost them the All-Star game and Major League Baseball made the same mistake: they didn’t read the bill, ”he added.
McConnell has repeatedly pointed to a recent analysis in The Washington Post that found President Biden
Joe Biden Iran’s spy-linked ship attacked at sea Biden exceeds vaccine expectations – so far Jill Biden visits Alabama with actress Jennifer Garner MORE “Falsely” claimed that Georgian law ended voting prematurely. The Post gave Biden “Four Pinocchios” because the new law only clarifies that provinces must keep early voting sites open from at least 9am to 5pm and allow them to stay open from 7am on early voting days. morning until 7 pm.
However, a New York Times analysis identified 16 provisions in the law that would restrict access to ballots, potentially confuse voters, and give more power to Republican lawmakers.