The Independent View: Companies Pledged To Halt Donations To Some Lawmakers But Have Not Kept Their Promise

Some Companies Pledged to Halt Donations, to Lawmakers who Objected to Certifying Biden's Election Win, some have Not kept their Promise.

Companies identified were: AT&T, General Electric, Intel, Pfize, and Walmart, as some of the Companies that said they wouldn't Donate to Lawmakers who Opposed Certification of the 2020 Presidential Election, but had since Donated Thousands of Dollars to Political Action Committees that Support them.

Some Companies used Language from the beginning that left open the Possibility of only a Temporary Pause, but some argued Donating to PACs was different from Donating directly to Lawmakers.

In April, Three months after saying it wouldn't Support the 147 Lawmakers, Walmart gave $30,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which Supports GOP Members running in House Elections. More than Half of House Republicans Voted Against Certification.

"Pledging not to give to a certain person doesn't mean that much when there are so many other ways that corporate money reaches elected officials," Daniel Weiner, a former Senior Counsel at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) who now works at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's Law school, said. "These pledges are largely symbolic."

A Walmart Representative, Randy Hargrove, said: "As we have for the past 10 years on a bipartisan basis, we have given equally to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee."

A Daily Beast Analysis also found that Companies including: Lockheed Martin, UPS, General Motors, and American Express, also Broke Promises Not to Donate to Lawmakers who objected to Certification.

In a Statement a few days after the January 6th Riot, Amex said it wouldPpull Funding for Elected Officials who attempted to "subvert the presidential election results and disrupt the peaceful transition of power." In April, however, the Company gave $2,500 to the Republican Legislative Victory Fund, which supports Arizona Republican State Senators. That same group had been Working on an Audit of all 2.1 Million Votes cast in Maricopa County, where Biden Won.

Asked about a Different Donation, $5,000 in February, to the House Conservatives Fund, a Representative for AT&T said that the Company had been assured the Funds wouldn't go toward Officials who Objected to Certification. However, the House Conservatives Fund is led by Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA, 4th District) who Objected to Certifying the Vote.

Additionally, Campaign-Finance Experts said: there's no way to know whether donated funds ended up going toward officials who opposed certification.

"It's completely frustrating from an accountability point of view," Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a Stetson University Law School Professor, who Studies Corporate Campaign Finance, said.