The Chicago Tribune reports that more than 100 senior business executives - including Walter Robb of Whole Foods, Tim Armstrong of AOL, and Scott Griffith of Zipcar - have signed on to Starbucks’ Howard Schultz’s effort to get companies to stop donating to any and all political campaigns until lawmakers in both parties “"stop the partisan gridlock in Washington, D.C."
According to the Tribune, “It's unclear exactly how much of an impact -- if any -- Schultz's CEO pledge might have. But a relatively small number of Americans do wield an outsized influence when it comes to political donations. Only 0.04 percent of Americans give in excess of $200 to candidates, parties or political action committees -- and those donations account for 64.8 percent of all contributions.”
Schultz has said that the contentious debate over the raising of the debt ceiling - which has been pro forma until this year - was the straw that broke the camel’s back, leading him to announce his boycott and call for other CEOs to join him.
According to the Tribune, “It's unclear exactly how much of an impact -- if any -- Schultz's CEO pledge might have. But a relatively small number of Americans do wield an outsized influence when it comes to political donations. Only 0.04 percent of Americans give in excess of $200 to candidates, parties or political action committees -- and those donations account for 64.8 percent of all contributions.”
Schultz has said that the contentious debate over the raising of the debt ceiling - which has been pro forma until this year - was the straw that broke the camel’s back, leading him to announce his boycott and call for other CEOs to join him.
- KC's View:
- When this story first broke, I said that MNB would join the boycott, and one MNB user already has written in to say that he would as well. So there’s at least 102 companies...because I’m guessing that the Tribune may not have counted us.
