The nonpartisan group examined securities filings and campaign finance records from the Fortune 100 list of top publicly traded companies and graded them on 14 criteria. Eleven of the 14 corporations based in Texas received an F. Tesla had the highest grade with a B.
Most of us know to only believe some or none of what you hear from a corporate public relations office. Any business journalist will tell you to only believe half of what you see. Accountable.US started by examining whether a company made any pledges after the protests of 2020 and 2021 and then where they spent their political contributions according to campaign finance reports.
Seven of Texas’s 14 companies are in the petroleum business: ConocoPhillips, Energy Transfer, Enterprise Products Partners, Exxon Mobil, Phillips 66, Plains GP Holdings and Valero Energy. None issued statements defending voting rights, and only Valero condemned the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, promising to suspend political contributions to lawmakers who tried to overturn the election.
The energy industry’s failure to speak up for civil rights and democracy is significant because fossil fuel companies and their employees are the largest donors to Texas Republican politicians. If oil and gas executives were to demand democracy, Republicans would pay attention.
Instead, San Antonio-headquartered Valero ended up giving $150,000 to politicians who voted against certifying the 2020 election results during the 2022 election cycle, records show. The company’s executives and political action arms gave $33,000 to state officials who voted for legislation restricting voting rights.
Soon-to-be Houston-based Exxon Mobil provided $118,000 to members of Congress who tried to stop Joe Biden from becoming president and $340,000 to federal lawmakers who opposed expanding voting protections. The company’s executives and PACs gave $70,000 to Texas officials who passed voting restrictions.
In terms of hypocrisy, though, Dallas-based AT&T takes the cake. The company declared that the right to vote is sacred and suspended donations to politicians who objected to certifying the 2020 elections results. Actions, though, speak louder than words.
AT&T helped fund the One America Network, known as OAN, which spreads disinformation and conspiracy theories surrounding voting and the election. The company gave $560,000 to members of Congress who opposed federal voting rights legislation.
The telecommunications company then resumed donations to representatives and senators who tried to overturn the 2020 election, giving them $135,000. AT&T executives and PACs gave $617,000 to Texas officials who passed tighter voter restrictions.
A transplant from California to Austin scored the highest on Accountable.US’s scorecard. Tesla joined the Business for Voting Rights Coalition and did not give any money to a politician who opposed the 2020 election or supported new voting restrictions.
Then again, Tesla does not have a political action committee. By staying out of politics, it’s easy to get a passing grade.
Rounding out the Texas corporations, Houston-based food company Sysco and San Antonio-based financial firm USAA both received Fs, and Irving-based health care company McKesson failed, too. Austin tech firms Dell and Oracle received a C and D, respectively.
“Americans overwhelmingly say corporations should stand up for democracy, yet we’re seeing the vast majority of major companies failing miserably,” Kyle Herrig, Accountable.US’ president, said. “Corporate executives know their customers, employees and shareholders want to buy from, work for, or invest in a company that shares their values, not just one that preserves its bottom line. They pay lip service to democratic ideals and the rule of law and then support policymakers peddling the Big Lie.”
Many conservatives believe this is precisely how a corporation should behave, prioritizing returns to shareholders and ignoring everything else. But that’s a false argument that ignores reality. If politics were not important, why make donations at all?
Truly competitive markets rely on true democracies. The freedom to choose which deodorant to buy is intrinsically tied to the freedom to vote for our political leaders and knowing our vote counts. When we lose our right to choose our leaders, the authoritarians left in charge will soon choose which companies may remain in business.
Chris Tomlinson, named 2021 columnist of the year by the Texas Managing Editors, writes commentary about money, politics and life in Texas. Sign up for his “Tomlinson’s Take” newsletter at HoustonChronicle.com/TomlinsonNewsletter.
