ctr for political acctability CPA
<div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div style="font-size: medium;"><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/amazon-google-proving-complicit-abortion/">https://www.alternet.org/amazon-google-proving-complicit-abortion/</a></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">thanks to the United States Supreme Court's 2010 <b>Citizens United</b> ruling that established money as a constitutionally protected form of free speech, countless dollars have flowed into political campaigns, candidates, and causes.</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">On Saturday,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> <b>The Guardian</b><i> </i><font color="#0b0d65"><span style="transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">reported</span></font> that Amazon, Google, and other giant companies have waded into the fight over reproductive freedom. The British outlet revealed that these entities have been making financial contributions to an organization that has bankrolled right-wing lawmakers in North Carolina who voted to overturn Democratic Governor Roy Cooper's veto of the state's twelve-week abortion ban.</span></p><div id="story_page_incontent_p2_target" style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-5155643920455169" data-ad-slot="6339868799" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration-line: none; text-align: center; margin-bottom: 20px; display: block;" /></div><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"The Republican<b> State Leadership Committee (RSLC) received donations of tens of thousands of dollars each from corporations including Comcast, Intuit, Wells Fargo, Amazon, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/bank-of-america" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Bank of America</a> and Google last year. </b>The contributions were made in the months after Politico published a leaked supreme court decision indicating that the court would end the right to nationwide abortion access," <em>The Guardian</em> learned from an analysis conducted by the <b>Center for Political Accountability (CPA</b>).</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><strong>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/amazon-treat-humans-like-humans/" target="self" title="view post: 'Treat humans like humans': Amazon drivers file 16-page lawsuit alleging inhumane working conditions" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">'Treat humans like humans': Amazon drivers file 16-page lawsuit alleging inhumane working conditions</a></strong>
</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"Google contributed $45,000 to the RSLC after the leak of the draft decision, according to the CPA's review of the tax filings," <em>The Guardian </em>explained. "Others contributed even more in the months after the leak, including Amazon ($50,000), Intuit ($100,000), and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/comcast" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Comcast</a> ($147,000).</span>"</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><b><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/03/anti-abortion-lawmakers-donation-amazon-google-comcast" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">The paper noted</a> that "although these companies did not directly give these vast sums to North Carolina's anti-abortion lawmakers, the CPA's analysis is a case study in how corporate contributions to organizations such as the RSLC can end up being funneled into anti-abortion causes</b>. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When Republican state legislators successfully <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/16/north-carolina-abortion-ban-veto-override" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">overturned a veto</a> from the Democratic governor last month to pass the upcoming abortion ban, nine of lawmakers voting to overturn the veto had received campaign contributions from a group with links to the RSLC."</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Also pointed out by <em>The Guardian </em>is that "these donations are evidence that corporations are proving to be complicit in the broader movement to limit abortion rights, the CPA non-profit argues, even as many of these companies publicly tout women's empowerment and employee access to healthcar</span>e."</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Moreover, these businesses have vested interests in both sides of the debate. Per <em>The Guardian,</em> "The companies which donated to the RSLC are also large donors to Democratic political groups, and tech giants such as Google and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/amazon" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Amazon</a> tend to spend millions each year more broadly on lobbying efforts."</span></p></div></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 2 23 guk</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Although Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was reelected by 19 percent in the 2022 midterms, the far-right MAGA Republican continues to be a <a href="https://www.alternet.org/send/desantis-ap-history/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">highly polarizing figure</a> in U.S. politics — a fact that was evident when, in late January, he received the Union League of Philadelphia’s <a href="https://6abc.com/union-league-of-philadelphia-florida-governor-ron-desantis-leagues-gold-medal-abraham-lincoln/12730511/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">gold medal award</a>. DeSantis was greeted by a <a href="https://www.alternet.org/ron-desantis-teachers-2659307349/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">crowd of angry protestors</a> who argued that it was an <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/union-league-ron-desantis-award-20230124.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">insult to Black Philadelphia</a> to give DeSantis a prestigious award that went to President Abraham Lincoln back in 1863.</p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">DeSantis had been drawing vehement criticism for banning, from Florida high schools, an advance placement <a href="https://www.alternet.org/desantis-ap-history/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">course on African-American history</a>. And the protestors who gathered outside the Union League included some Black Democrats who are well-known in Philly politics, including Pennsylvania State Sen. Vincent Hughes and City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson. Philly is roughly 41 percent African-American.</p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">In an <font color="#0b0d65">article published by The Guardian</font> on February 13, reporter David Smith stresses that DeSantis’ critics have a problem with corporations that "use Black History Month to denounce racism" yet have given the Florida governor or groups that support him generous donations. Smith, using research from <a href="https://www.politicalaccountability.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">the Center for Political Accountability</a>, cit<b>es Amazon, AT&T, Comcast, DoorDash and Walmart as examples.</b></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><b>....</b></p></div>