Shortly after a group of Black business executives called on corporate America to do more in pushing back against restrictive voting bills making their way through state legislatures, a handful of Georgia’s highest-profile companies took stronger public stands against the state’s recently passed voting law. The state is home to a host of America’s biggest companies including Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines, Home Depot, and Aflac all of which are facing criticism for not being more vocal in opposition to the Georgia voting bill, which was signed into law last week after weeks of winding its way through the state legislature. On Wednesday, two of the state’s biggest companies, Delta and Coca-Cola, issued more forceful denunciations of the new law.
Coke, Delta oppose Georgia’s “unacceptable” voting law
The CEOs’ comments triggered threats of backlash from Republican legislators who embraced the contentious election overhaul as a necessary measure to restore confidence.
Kemp and other GOP leaders say they were caught off guard by the opposition, and the Georgia House retaliated by narrowly voting to end a lucrative tax break on jet fuel during the final, frenzied day of the legislative session. The measure never came up for a final vote in the Senate, where leaders are more lukewarm on overtly punishing Delta.
“They like our public policy when we’re doing things that benefit them,” said House Speaker David Ralston, adding: “You don’t feed a dog that bites your hand. You got to keep that in mind sometimes.”
As businesses back voting rights, Georgia GOP reps eye retaliation
The CEOs for Delta Airlines and Coca-Cola criticized Georgia s voter-suppression law. It wasn t long before Republicans tried to punish the businesses.
Delta Airlines planes at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.Jeff Greenberg / Universal Images / Getty Images file
April 1, 2021, 12:00 PM UTC
BySteve Benen
Voting-rights advocates, desperate to derail the voter-suppression law crafted by Georgia Republicans, hoped corporate leaders would join the fight and sway the outcome. That did not happen, and Gov. Brian Kemp (R) last week signed into law a series of reforms that will place new barriers between Georgians and their democracy.
The Fake Republican Fight With Corporate America Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
This week, we have seen perhaps the closest thing to a real-world specimen of a phenomenon that has heretofore been confined to theoretical (albeit extensive) speculation: a Republican Party schism with corporate America. The cause of the split is a Georgia law designed to make voting more cumbersome in the hopes of winnowing minorities and young people from the electorate.
After the CEO of Atlanta-based Delta Airlines denounced the vote-suppression measure, Republicans in the state’s lower chamber retaliated by voting to repeal a tax break the airline enjoyed. The state senate failed to pass it, leaving the vote as a warning that House Speaker David Ralston made explicit: “You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”