Other groups behind the message include the California State Controller’s office; trustees of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System; treasurers of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Maine and Vermont; foundations; socially responsible funds; and religious organizations such as church funds.
In addition to Walmart, Amazon and Exxon, recipients include CVS Health Corp., Berkshire Hathaway, AT&T, Wells Fargo & Co., Verizon Communications, Google parent Alphabet and Facebook.
Among those absent from the list is the largest U.S. bank, JPMorgan Chase, which said in an internal memo that the company would resume political giving with a restriction barring contributions to lawmakers who voted against certification in January, Reuters reported this month.
The letter is the latest move by investors to press companies on political spending in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack. Majority Action coordinated another letter in February pressuring asset managers to change their practices and their voting on other companies’ policies. The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, a coalition of ESG-conscious investors, shifted from encouraging companies to be transparent to urging them to consider halting political spending permanently.
‘Serious consequences’
ESG investors and liberal activists have pressed companies in recent months to oppose a Georgia voting law, saying it would restrict access and disproportionately affect Black voters in the state. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell responded in a statement in early April, saying some businesses were “dabbling in behaving like a woke parallel government.”
