He infuriated every liberal and every Democrat with his response, but basketball star Michael Jordan knew what he was doing when he declined a request in the 1990s to endorse former Charlotte, N.C., mayor Harvey Gantt against Sen. Jesse Helms. Jordan famously replied, “Republicans buy sneakers, too.”
A lot of corporate executives and boards might want to get more active in politics, but they recognize they run the risk of alienating roughly half of their client base. Thus, they’re cautious:
After a landmark Supreme Court ruling this year freed executives to spend unlimited corporate cash on campaigns, some predicted that businesses would flood television airwaves with pro-industry political ads — and that just hasn’t happened yet. Image-sensitive corporations are still trying to make sure that, if they jump into 2010 politicking, they do so as anonymously as possible, according to Republican political operatives and trade group leaders.Many corporate executives don’t want to wade into partisan political campaigns. But other companies have told their advisers and GOP fundraisers that they are interested in helping finance ads to spotlight proposed regulations and lawmakers they don’t like. These companies include some firms on Wall Street and in the energy sector opposed to stricter regulations, and fast-food franchise owners fearful of being forced to unionize their shops.They just don’t want to be singled out — or have their corporate logo attached.
You know, I suppose they could just advertise in magazines and websites whose arguments they prefer. Or they could just send envelopes of cash to bloggers to subtly mention them; some would see RANDom CApitalization as a bunch of flUBS, but others would notice what was goING on.