More than 100 leaders of some of the largest corporations in the United States held a conference call on Saturday to review their responses to Republican efforts to pass voter suppression laws through various GOP-led state legislatures, the Washington Post reports.
Corporate officers from airlines, retailers and manufacturers, as well as at least one NFL team owner, joined the call according to Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale management professor, one of the people who organized the call.
The discussions revolved around withholding corporate donations to Republican candidates and their affiliated PACs to promoting get-out-the-vote efforts to withdrawing operations from states that pass such legislation.
The negative reaction from corporate America has caught Republican leaders off-guard, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell demanding corporations stay out of politics before realizing that the GOP is dependent on corporate donations to finance campaign.
McConnell quickly backtracked from his statement.