Corporate America is halting or reconsidering political contributions in the wake of last week’s deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The donation freeze began among Wall Street giants and has spread to a variety of major businesses including Facebook and Exxon, and more are expected to make or consider a similar move in the coming days.
In some cases, the policy changes are targeted at conservative lawmakers who raised objections Wednesday to the certification of the Electoral College vote that amplified the “Stop the Steal” protest that turned violent.
Other companies are instituting broader conscription.
“Dow is immediately suspending all corporate and employee political action committee (PAC) contributions to any member of Congress who voted to object to the certification of the presidential election,” the global chemical company said Monday.
Dow, like financial giants Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, is among the companies planning to stop or pause donations to some politicians but not others.
Companies such as Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase extended to all politicians the new prohibition on contributions from their corporate PACs.
The companies holding on to their political money include stars new and old in America’s corporate galaxy, such as Marriott International, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Ford Motor Co., according to reports in Popular Information, a political newsletter run by the editor of left-wing Think Progress that broke the story Sunday.
“We want you to be assured that we will not support candidates who do not respect the rule of law,” a Citigroup executive wrote in an internal memo cited by Bloomberg News.
Perhaps the one politician singled out the most in the rash of corporate PAC changes was Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, a Yale Law School graduate who was one of the Senate leaders in the largely symbolic maneuver to challenge Mr. Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Nevertheless, taken individually, the corporate PAC contributions to Mr. Hawley and other politicians are relatively small, ranging from $1,000 to $10,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The Morgan Stanley PAC contributed $878,000 to candidates in the 2020 cycle, of which 55% when to Republicans. The percentage was slightly higher in Senate races, where GOP candidates took in 65% of the corporate PAC’s donations, according to OpenSecrets.com.
The same was true of the Marriott International PAC, where Democrats received 54% of its contributions overall, but 65% of those made in Senate races favored Republicans, records show.
While the corporate PACs consist of employees of the companies, workers acting as individuals gave as much or more in 2020, with Democrats pocketing most of that cash, records show.
Employees at JP Morgan Chase gave Mr. Biden nearly five times more money than Mr. Trump, $956,000 to $209,000, according to records at the Center for Responsive Politics. The combined contributions from JP Morgan Chase employees to failed Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and Vermont independent Sen. Bernard Sanders totaled virtually the same as the amount they gave to Mr. Trump in 2020.
Similar patterns are seen at the other traditional Wall Street banks.
Citigroup employees gave $246,000 to Mr. Biden compared to $42,000 to Mr. Trump. Among Morgan Stanley employees, the breakdown was $529,000 to $225,000 in favor of Mr. Biden, according to federal data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
While much attention was paid to familiar names on Wall Street, campaign finance records show even more money comes from founders of hedge funds and boutique investment firms than from the traditional players.
• James Varney can be reached at jvarney@washingtontimes.com.
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