Corporate leaders increasingly outspoken on some important issues, but there is a contradiction between their words today and the role they played in creating the moment we find ourselves in, Andrew Ross Sorkin argues in his latest column.
Companies have funded political efforts antithetical to their public stances, according to the Center for Political Accountability. The nonpartisan organization analyzed donations over the past decade to six state-level political associations known as “527s,” named after a section of the tax code. Public companies were the biggest donors to the groups supporting governors, state attorneys general and local lawmakers.
That money supported candidates who undermined the causes companies claim to care about, especially on social and environmental issues. That included state attorneys general working to undo the Affordable Care Act, as well as local legislators trying to roll back L.G.B.T.Q. rights and federal climate change initiatives.
“Companies aren’t paying attention,” Bruce Freed, the president of the Center for Public Accountability, told Andrew. “They give to these groups and that’s essentially where their due diligence stops.”
But, but, but … Companies push back with two common refrains…Read more
