New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has sent letters to 41 companies asking them to reevaluate their corporate political action committee donations to politicians who are perceived as being hostile to the LGBT community.
DiNapoli”™s letter follows a request from the advocacy group Zero for Zeroes, which seeks to influence companies that publicly stress their LGBT inclusivity and support from making PAC contributions to politicians that have made comments and supported legislation aimed against LGBT Americans.
Zero for Zeroes stated that it identified 49 companies that received a 100% rating on the Human Rights Campaign”™s Corporate Equality Index contributed $5.8 million to members of Congress that received a zero rating on the Human Rights Campaign”™s Congressional Scorecard.
In his letter to the CEOs of the companies, DiNapoli called on them to review their “policies and procedures for making corporate political expenditures to determine whether spending is aligned with corporate strategy and values. This review would help ensure that such expenditures are consistent with its public stance on issues that pose heightened misalignment risks, like LGBTQ rights, thereby mitigating the financial ramifications of misalignment.”
Among the companies targeted by DiNapoli were Amazon, AT&T, Best Buy, Facebook, Microsoft and JPMorgan Chase.
