100+ corporate executives consider freezing donations over laws curbing voting access
11 April 2021
More than 100 corporate executives and leaders gathered on a zoom call Saturday to discuss ways to combat controversial voting bills that would restrict voting access that are being considered across the country, per the Washington Post.
Why it matters: American corporations flexed their advocacy muscles earlier this month when more than 100 companies signaled their opposition to Georgia's new voting law, inciting the wrath of GOP leaders, including former President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Driving the news: During the call, executives from "major airlines, retailers and manufacturers – plus at least one NFL owner discussed possibly stopping donations to politicians who support bills curbing voter access and postponing investments in states that approve the controversial measures.
As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, a new statement from Corporate American could be coming this week, condemning voter discrimination and calling for greater voter access.
Saturday's call between company executives "shows they are not intimidated by the flack. They are not going to be cowed," Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale management professor and one of the call's organizers, told the Post.
- “They felt very strongly that these voting restrictions are based on a flawed premise and are dangerous,” Sonnenfeld said.
- Sonnenfeld also noted that some of the companies on the call included representatives from Starbucks, Linkedin, Levi Strauss and Boston Consulting Group.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.