Yesterday we had the heartwarming story about big tech company Intel deciding to finally pull its financial support from Rep. Steve King because of his white supremacist associations. And while it sadly reminded us all that big corporations such as AT&T and Land O’Lakes continued to support candidates like the openly racist representative from Iowa, it highlighted how public pressure can force big money to reconsider its devil’s bargain. Bloomberg News is reporting that on Tuesday, Land O’Lakes announced it too would end its financial support of King.
Since Land O’Lakes and others were name-checked as white-supremacist-politician endorsers, its top brass has clearly been deep in closed-door meetings wondering what to do. It is important to note that King has a long and storied history of being a racist, mostly obvious in his hard-line anti-immigration stance.
“The Land O’Lakes Inc. PAC has traditionally contributed to lawmakers of both parties that represent the communities where our members and employees live and work and are also on committees that oversee policies that directly impact our farmer owners,” the company said in a statement. “We take our civic responsibility seriously, want our contributions to be a positive force for good and also seek to ensure that recipients of our contributions uphold our company’s values. On that basis, we have determined that our PAC will no longer support Rep. King moving forward.”
Of course, Land O’Lakes has a long history of being both culturally insensitive and racist, as its dreadful stereotypical “Indian princess” logo points out. King still has lots of corporations like AT&T, Berkshire Hathaway, and the American Bankers Association that are all willing to overlook his hate-filled politics in order to make a few more dollars for their bottom lines. Hopefully, the pressure will continue to build against big corporate donors that shirk their responsibility to the American communities they make so much money off.
Help get rid of people like Rep. Steve King by heading over and donating $1 or $2 to Democrats running to unseat his ilk.