Corporations are already breaking their promise to stop funding anti-democratic lawmakers

In a country where money talks, could this be a sign that the impact of the Capitol riot is starting to fade?

Razor wire is attached to the top of temporary fencing as the U.S. Capitol is seen in the background on March 4, 2021 on Capitol Hill. (Getty Images)

The attack on the US Capitol in January was a rare unifying political event, at least for a fleeting moment. Republicans and Democrats may have disagreed on the causes and the impact, and continue to do so, but they were united in their condemnation of the assault on American democracy.

The attack was so serious, in fact, that it even provoked a typically neutral and reluctant player to enter the fray: corporate America.

In the aftermath of the storming of the Capitol, more than 60 corporations announced their intention to stop donating to lawmakers who objected to certifying the results of the 2020 election. Those objections, based on falsehoods and lies from then president Donald Trump in his attempt to overturn the results of the election, were seen as a primary cause of the violence on 6 January.

But it appears not all of them are sticking to their word, according to new research by Popular Information, a newsletter written by journalist Judd Legum, who has been diligently monitoring FEC filings to keep track of those promises. 

AT&T, Intel and healthcare firm Cigna have all since donated money to organisations or political action committees affiliated with Republicans who objected to the results. While not directly funding the candidates who challenged the results, the money is still benefiting them. Some might argue, it is a distinction without a difference.

So in a country where money talks, especially in politics, could this be a sign that the impact of the attack is starting to fade?

It’s important to remember that few at the time questioned the link between the Republican challenge to the presidential election results and the violence that followed. More than 130 Republican members of congress and eight GOP senators voted to object to at least one state’s electoral count in the lead up to the Capitol attack. Their objections followed dozens of failed legal challenges by Donald Trump’s campaign and a coordinated effort to mislead the former president’s supporters into believing the election was stolen.

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That so many corporations chose to withhold funding to those lawmakers was seen as something of a game-changer. In the 2020 election cycle, companies and business lobby groups donated more than $300 million to candidates and party committees in both parties. Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a campaign finance reform organisation, told the New York Times that it had the potential to cause a “fundamental change in the financing of elections.” 

Republicans were always going to suffer disproportionately given that they were the only side objecting to the results. While some companies such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook paused all political donations, Airbnb, Marriott International and Morgan Stanley specifically targeted the objectors. Hallmark even asked for donations back from senators Josh Hawley and Roger Marshall, saying in a statement that it “believes the peaceful transition of power is part of the bedrock of our democratic system, and we abhor violence of any kind.”

But AT&T, Intel and Cigna have been singled out for seemingly reneging on their promises.

AT&T was notable for the directness of its statement at the time and because it’s political action committee donated the most of any single political company in the 2019-20 election cycle, according to the New York Times.

In a statement just five days after the Capitol attack it said it would “suspend contributions to members of Congress who voted to object to the certification of Electoral College votes last week.”

But last month, as revealed by Popular Information, the company’s PAC donated $5,000 to the House Conservatives Fund, a PAC chaired by Louisiana congressman Mike Johnson, who himself objected to certification. A large part of the PAC’s efforts are geared towards re-electing Republican House representatives, more than half of whom objected to the results.

The company also gave money to the Republican Main Street Partnership PAC and the Tuesday Group PAC, both of which include members who voted to overturn the Electoral College vote.

An AT&T spokesperson told The Independent that it had been assured that none of the money donated to those PACs will go toward the re-election of objectors. How it intends to ensure that is the case is unclear. 

The company said that it would “continue to adhere to their policy adopted on January 11 of suspending contributions to the re-election campaigns of members of Congress who voted to object to the certification of Electoral College votes.”

“We have been assured that none of the employee PAC’s contributions will go toward the re-election of any of those members of Congress. Any future contributions to multi-candidate PACs will require such consistency with the policy suspending individual contributions.”

Intel, the computer chip manufacturer, has followed a similar course. It said in the aftermath of the Capitol attack that it “will not contribute to members of Congress who voted against certification of the Electoral College results as we feel that action was counter to our company’s values.”

But last month it donated $15,000 to the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC), a fundraising vehicle for Republicans in the House of Representatives, two third of whom voted to object to the election results.

Cigna, a global healthcare company, said in January that it would “discontinue support of any elected official who encouraged or supported violence, or otherwise hindered a peaceful transition of power.”

Less than a month later its PAC donated $15,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), Popular Information revealed. The NRSC is led by Florida Republican Rick Scott, who was among those that objected to the certification of the Electoral College results.

Cigna said in a statement to The Independent that it “not wavered from our commitment to disqualify elected officials that incited violence from CignaPAC contributions.”

“Our standard eliminates direct contributions to any federal or state elected official who encouraged or supported violence or otherwise hindered a peaceful transition of power on that day, or who do so in the future,” the statement added.

Intel has not yet responded to a request for comment fromThe Independent.

While it may not three out of more than 60 companies that pledged to withhold money to election objectors may not seem like much, it may be a sign that corporate America is ready to return to normalcy.

With Republicans hoping to retake the House in 2022, how those corporations spend their money in the next year is likely to be more scrutinised than ever before.