The floodgates have opened.
Coca-Cola CEO James Quincy on Wednesday added the company to a growing list of corporations with Georgia ties coming out against the state’s new restrictive voting overhaul law.
Shortly after both Delta and Microsoft issued stern condemnations of the battleground state’s new law, the Coca-Cola CEO appeared on CNBC to join the corporate chorus rallying against the law.
Asked about his response to more than 70 Black corporate executives who have taken a firm stance against the new Georgia voting law, Quincy said he wanted to be “crystal clear” that he views the Georgia law “unacceptable.”
“It is a step backwards and it does not promote principles we have stood for in Georgia around broad access to voting, around voter convenience, about ensuring election integrity,” Quincy said. “This is frankly just a step backwards.”
After saying that the company has spent decades in Georgia promoting a more just society, Quincy reiterated that the new law is a step backward for progress.
“This legislation is wrong and needs to be remedied,” Quincy said. “We will continue to advocate for it in both private and now even more clearly in public.”
Pressed on why the company did not issue its public condemnation of the law sooner, Quincy maintained that the company has long opposed the legislation.
“We have a long track record of working in Georgia, with alliances, on our own account with legislators, with stakeholders,” Quincy said.
Quincy added that the legislation touches on “an area that’s particularly sensitive for Georgia” and did nothing to resolve it in way that is acceptable for Georgians.
“The reality is many things are improved and done and achieved in private without having to take a public stand, but in this case it has not worked, clearly,” Quincy said. “So we’re being more forceful in our public position, even more than we were earlier this week and will continue to advocate for change in Georgia.”
A number of Black community and civil rights groups have filed at least three lawsuits challenging several of the law’s provisions. The new Georgia voting law includes restrictions such as new ID requirements for mail voting, limits on dropbox use and banning the distribution of food and most beverages to voters waiting in line.
Watch Quincy’s remarks below:
EXCLUSIVE: Coca-Cola CEO says the restrictive Georgia voting law is "unacceptable…it is a step backward…"
Quincey also says "this legislation is wrong, and needs to be remedied, and we will continue to advocate for it both in private and in now even more clearly in public" pic.twitter.com/cdruteEiat
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) March 31, 2021
Bitches, condemn the shit loudly and firmly BEFORE it’s a law you assholes.
Cross-posted from an AJC article.
Not that I trust Kemp to ever speak the truth, but:
Kemp said he was blindsided by Delta’s position, saying that at “no point” did the airline raise objections with his office about some of the controversial provisions in the measure before he signed it into law.
Kemp and other GOP leaders say they were caught off guard by the opposition, and some talked of punishing the airline during the final, frenzied day of the legislative session on Wednesday.
Prove it. Give every employee in GA a full day off, paid, to vote. Donate a not-small percentage of your profits to get out the vote and voter protection efforts. Put up billboards and run prime-time ads calling out the GOP and promoting voter rights and access.
Condemnation means shit to actually doing something and they don’t need to wait to do something.
Well, sure Coca-Cola is condemning it – how dare they make it illegal to offer somebody a Coke when they’re standing in a long voting line on a hot day???
To be honest. what’s to say they kept their counsel because they were afraid of financial retribution in the form of higher business taxes that could’ve been levied? Their silence on this topic has been bought. It’s why they’ve said nothing until now. Bet on it.
ETA: I am only questioning and not complaining, but did we really need six individual stories on the Matt Gaetz story from 17 hours ago until now? What happened to updating the original story, which TPM frequently does?
Must be a slow news day.