In lieu of your regularly scheduled newsletter today, we'll be hosting a chat for readers about our recent reporting on voter suppression bills in Georgia, Arizona, and elsewhere. But instead of using the comments section, as we've done previously, this will be an audio chat on Twitter Spaces. It starts at 10:30 AM Eastern. Here is how to participate:
1. Make sure you have the Twitter app on your phone
2. Follow @juddlegum
3. At 10:30 AM Eastern, open the app and you should see a glowing purple circle in the upper left corner. Click the purple circle to join the chat.
It will look something like this:
Once you are in, if you want to ask a question or make a comment, you can request to speak by clicking the microphone at the bottom left of the chat window.
If you are reading this after the chat ended or don't use Twitter, don't worry. You can leave your comment or question the old fashioned way by clicking the button at the bottom of this newsletter. We'll make sure to read them all and respond to as many as we can.
Before we start, here are a few important updates on what's happening in Georgia:
1.Home Depot and Coca-Cola are equivocating. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce recently expressed "concern and opposition" to Georgia's proposed voter restrictions. On Sunday, Home Depot told Popular Information that it was "aligned" with the Georgia Chamber's view. On Monday, Coca-Cola said the same thing to the Washington Post. As a result, the Washington Post then reported that both companies were opposed to the voter suppression bills moving through the Georgia legislature. Home Depot, however, later contacted the Washington Post to "clarify that being 'aligned' with the Chamber doesn't mean they're opposed to the proposed voter restrictions." Coca-Cola made a similar comment to a reporter with the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Home Depot and Coca-Cola's position doesn't make sense and it's clear that the companies are trying to have it both ways.
2.Salesforce becomes the first major corporation to unequivocally oppose the voter suppression bills in Georgia. The enterprise software company has a major presence in Atlanta, where it employs hundreds of people. The company announced its opposition on Twitter.
3. A theory on why some corporations are so reluctant to speak out. Why are so many companies that purport to support voting rights so hesitant to oppose these bills? Greg Blustein makes an important observation in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
Georgia’s CEO crowd also needs no reminder of what happened in 2018, when then-Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle blocked a lucrative tax break for Delta after the airline enraged conservatives by ending a group discount for the National Rifle Association. (The $35 million annual incentive was later revived.)
In other words, these companies may be worried about the financial implications of supporting voting rights in Georgia.
We will discuss all of this and more at 10:30 AM Eastern on Twitter Spaces. Hope to see you there!
Home Depot and Coca-Cola are huge national / international enterprises. How about a good, old-fashioned consumer boycott until they stand against voter suppression?
Government & business in bed together, always! Money determines the health of the relationship, even when there’s glimpses of greater good ideology. Mostly always falls back to status quo with no regards for people, human interest or rights. Money. Greed. All quid pro quo.
This is a great story. Thanks for writing about it. I'd be curious to get an overview of what the sources of funding are for the legislators and the governor who are supporting voter restrictions. How important are companies that are major national and international brands such as Home Depot and Coca-cola, as opposed to other sources of funding? If those two companies are not drivers of the voting restriction measures, which companies or industries are either driving or facilitating them by continuing to support those politicians who are putting them forward?
My biggest beef with the thinking of these corporations is why do they need tax payers money to do anything? The greed makes me literally sick at my stomach!
Thank you for putting together a really interesting and informative broadsheet. You cover ground and topics that are routinely and unjustifiably overlooked. You're doing a great job, in a long tradition. You set a very high standard, bar none. Please keep up your good and important work. All the very best,
I live in Ashland, Oregon and I will shop at Lowes now instead of Home Depot. We can each make a statement about voter supression in our own communities while giving what we can to the organizations in Georgia that are fighting for voter rights.
I wil boycott absolutely any company that doesn't stand against this. These companies just can not have it both ways & we, the consumers must do what we must do. Killing our democracy is nothing more than going TOO FAR.
Greed, avarice, the relentless pursuit of material wealth and power – this is at the heart of the human condition: It is more important for the very rich to maintain the status quo, by not supporting legislation that would change or remove their ability to hold all others in “material bondage”. Do you not see that this is still “slavery” by another name?
Of course Home Depot, Coca-Cola, et al., will equivocate. They will “talk the talk”.... but will never “walk the walk”.
That's clearly what they're worried about. It's ridiculous that republicans are able to screw these companies if they try to do the right thing. Why would anyone, ever, vote for a republican?
Although I personally believe, at some point, business decisions should be more than just what affects the bottom line, it's a shame that we consistently rely on corporations and big companies to "do the right thing" — this has worked so ineffectively throughout history. As you point out in the 2018 example, that kind of quid pro quo is brazen and completely transparent. But that is the cost of doing business, I guess. It seems the system is set up for that kind of bribery.
I am not on twitter so I will not attend today's chat, but my comment regarding the problem with corporate donors trying to have their cake and eat it too is that hopefully with more publicity of their lack of backbone will eventually have people looking for jobs choose other companies that do have a backbone and they will not get the workers they need and that will hurt their bottom line. And what every company needs to remember, without a democracy they will have no protections and their shortsightedness now will eventually put their company, large or small, at risk. Like driving down the road with blinders on, they never see the truck coming to broadside them until it is too late.
Home Depot and Coca-Cola are huge national / international enterprises. How about a good, old-fashioned consumer boycott until they stand against voter suppression?
Government & business in bed together, always! Money determines the health of the relationship, even when there’s glimpses of greater good ideology. Mostly always falls back to status quo with no regards for people, human interest or rights. Money. Greed. All quid pro quo.
This is a great story. Thanks for writing about it. I'd be curious to get an overview of what the sources of funding are for the legislators and the governor who are supporting voter restrictions. How important are companies that are major national and international brands such as Home Depot and Coca-cola, as opposed to other sources of funding? If those two companies are not drivers of the voting restriction measures, which companies or industries are either driving or facilitating them by continuing to support those politicians who are putting them forward?
My biggest beef with the thinking of these corporations is why do they need tax payers money to do anything? The greed makes me literally sick at my stomach!
I cannot join this interesting discussion, but want to express my appreciation for you excellent reporting.
You asked for a "like".
Thank you for putting together a really interesting and informative broadsheet. You cover ground and topics that are routinely and unjustifiably overlooked. You're doing a great job, in a long tradition. You set a very high standard, bar none. Please keep up your good and important work. All the very best,
Clive Rubin
"Schoonzicht"
204 Main Rd
Kalk Bay 7975
Cape Town
021 788 7155
021 788 2173
((C 072 721 2557))
clive265@gmail.com
How sad it is, these giant corporations are so influenced by money and not what is a given right of the people, to vote without fear.
I live in Ashland, Oregon and I will shop at Lowes now instead of Home Depot. We can each make a statement about voter supression in our own communities while giving what we can to the organizations in Georgia that are fighting for voter rights.
@Judd What risks does HR-1 face from a conservative Supreme Court that's shown its intent to gut the existing Voting Rights Act?
I wil boycott absolutely any company that doesn't stand against this. These companies just can not have it both ways & we, the consumers must do what we must do. Killing our democracy is nothing more than going TOO FAR.
Greed, avarice, the relentless pursuit of material wealth and power – this is at the heart of the human condition: It is more important for the very rich to maintain the status quo, by not supporting legislation that would change or remove their ability to hold all others in “material bondage”. Do you not see that this is still “slavery” by another name?
Of course Home Depot, Coca-Cola, et al., will equivocate. They will “talk the talk”.... but will never “walk the walk”.
Your reports give me hope that our democracy can be saved. It is clearly walking a fine line right now.
Thanks so much for your excellent reporting. I’m so glad I subscribed!
That's clearly what they're worried about. It's ridiculous that republicans are able to screw these companies if they try to do the right thing. Why would anyone, ever, vote for a republican?
Although I personally believe, at some point, business decisions should be more than just what affects the bottom line, it's a shame that we consistently rely on corporations and big companies to "do the right thing" — this has worked so ineffectively throughout history. As you point out in the 2018 example, that kind of quid pro quo is brazen and completely transparent. But that is the cost of doing business, I guess. It seems the system is set up for that kind of bribery.
Ah! I don’t use Twitter. Any possibility for future to do it another way? This is a very important topic.
Boycott?
I am not on twitter so I will not attend today's chat, but my comment regarding the problem with corporate donors trying to have their cake and eat it too is that hopefully with more publicity of their lack of backbone will eventually have people looking for jobs choose other companies that do have a backbone and they will not get the workers they need and that will hurt their bottom line. And what every company needs to remember, without a democracy they will have no protections and their shortsightedness now will eventually put their company, large or small, at risk. Like driving down the road with blinders on, they never see the truck coming to broadside them until it is too late.