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I wrote about the companies financing the Republican assault on democracy. https://newrepublic.com/article/160800/corporate-money-trump-gop-coup
In brief: The Republican State Leadership Committee is a 527 group aimed at helping Republicans take state legislatures. In 2010, they launched REDMAP, a campaign to take over legislatures in a number of states in time to control the redistricting process after the census.
Since then, as we all know, Republican legislatures have pushed not only racial gerrymandering, but voter ID laws and other forms of voter suppression. Last year, the RSLC raised funds, again, by pitching donors on taking control of redistricting. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/22/republican-dark-money-groups-2020-election
The following is a non-exhaustive list of companies that gave according to the RSLC's publicly available tax disclosures.
1-800 Contacts ( @1800CONTACTS): $35,000
3M ( @3M): $25,000
Amazon ( @amazon): $50,000
Anheuser-Busch ( @AnheuserBusch): $2,500
Autozone ( @autozone): $5,000
Bank of America ( @BankofAmerica): $25,000
Best Buy ( @BestBuy): $25,000
Boeing ( @Boeing): $100,000
Bristol-Meyers Squibb ( @bmsnews): $100,000
Capital One ( @CapitalOne): $30,000
Chevron ( @Chevron): $550,000
Citigroup ( @citi): $75,000
Coca-Cola ( @CocaCola): $50,000
Comcast ( @comcast): $135,000
ConocoPhillips ( @conocophillips): $100,000
Deloitte ( @deloitte): $15,000
Dominion Energy ( @DominionEnergy): $145,000
DraftKings ( @DraftKings): $17,000
Ebay ( @eBay): $25,000
Eli Lilly ( @lillypad): $100,000
ExxonMobil ( @exxonmobil): $100,000
Facebook ( @Facebook): $50,000
Farmer's Group ( @wearefarmers): $125,000
FedEx ( @FedEx): $30,000
Freedom Financial ( @freedomfamily): $20,000
General Motors ( @GM): $135,000
GlaxoSmithKline ( @GSK): $75,000
Google ( @Google): $10,000
Hewlett-Packard ( @HP): $30,000
Home Depot ( @HomeDepot): $10,000
Honeywell ( @honeywell): $25,000
iHeartMedia ( @iHeartMedia): $5,500
Intuit ( @Intuit): $125,000
JPMorgan Chase ( @jpmorgan): $30,500
Juul ( @JUULvapor): $60,000
Kwik Trip ( @KwikTrip): $25,000
LegalZoom ( @LegalZoom): $5,000
LexisNexis ( @LexisNexis): $25,000
Mastercard ( @Mastercard): $25,000
Microsoft ( @Microsoft): $25,000
MillerCoors/MolsonCoors ( @MillerCoors): $25,000
Motorola ( @Moto): $30,000
Mylan ( @MylanNews): $50,000
Nationwide ( @Nationwide): $42,500
Novo Nordisk ( @novonordisk): $150,000
PayPal ( @PayPal): $25,000
PepsiCo ( @PepsiCo): $15,000
Pfizer ( @pfizer): $210,000
Raytheon ( @raytheon): $40,000
Reynolds American ( @RAI_News): $240,000
Sheetz ( @sheetz): $30,000
SmileDirectClub ( @smiledirectclub): $25,000
Target ( @Target): $15,000
TIAA ( @TIAA): $150,000
T-Mobile ( @TMobile): $50,000
TruGreen ( @TruGreen): $80,000
UnitedHealth ( @UHC): $50,000
UPS ( @UPS): $35,000
Visa ( @Visa): $50,000
Volkswagen ( @VW): $15,000
Waffle House ( @WaffleHouse): $50,000
Walgreens ( @Walgreens): $51,000
Walmart ( @Walmart): $60,000
Waste Management ( @WasteManagement): $25,000
Waymo ( @Waymo): $50,000
Wells Fargo ( @WellsFargo): $50,000
Lastly, I didn't mention them in the piece, but a number of trade associations also gave as well. They're mostly in the industries you might expect, but the Motion Picture Association ( @motionpictures) also gave $25,000.
This is something I try to get at in the piece and should probably write about fully at some point. This money is important and adds up for groups and campaigns, but it really isn't all that much relative to what corporations and the wealthy have to spend. https://twitter.com/spacetwinks/status/1346830180833226754
They don't spend that much partially because their interests are already protected by our institutions and other factors. To me, the most important money in politics is money outside of politics - ex. voters get political information from corporate-funded media in the first place
All that said, this kind of direct giving matters and we should do something about it.
K Street, this is a fantastic idea, thanks. https://mobile.twitter.com/JStein_WaPo/status/1347222851963805696
