Coca-Cola Removed from Joe Statehouse
Multiple U.S. media outlets reported on April 4 that Republican lawmakers in Georgia have demanded that Coca-Cola products be removed from their offices after the state’s executive president criticized an election law passed by the state legislature.
The Joe State lawmakers signed a letter dated Saturday (April 3) notifying Kevin Perry, president and CEO of the Georgia Beverage Association, to move all Coca-Cola products out of their offices because Coca-Cola was supporting “eliminating” Georgia’s election system.
Gov. Joe signed the state legislature into law late last month to pass the Election Reform Act. The bill requires absentee voting with a photo identification (ID); it also requires enhanced security at the ballot box, among other things. Republicans say the law will restore confidence in the legitimacy of elections in the state. But the move was opposed by Democrats.
A few days ago, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey declared the voting legislation signed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp “unacceptable,” a move he called “regressive” and controversial. The state’s Atlanta is the longtime headquarters of Coca-Cola.
Eight Republican state House representatives signed a joint letter rescinding their support for Coca-Cola, including Victor-Anderson, Clint Crowe, Matt Barton, Jason-Ridley, Lauren McDonald III (R-Texas), and the Republican Party. Lauren-McDonald.III, Stan-Gunter, Dewayne-Hill and Marcus-Wiedower.
These Joe State lawmakers decried, “Given that Coca-Cola has chosen to back down under the pressure of an out-of-control culture of cancellation, we respect their choice and demand the immediate removal of all Coca-Cola products from our offices.”
The letter also accuses the company of deciding to “perpetuate a national confrontation,” and they say Coca-Cola “seeks to intentionally mislead the citizens of Georgia and deepen the internal divisions of our great state.”
“If Coca-Cola chooses to read the bill, share its true intentions and accept its role in dispelling the fog (referring to the opaqueness of the election), we welcome a dialogue to rebuild the working relationship,” the statement said.
In addition to Coca-Cola, both Citibank and Delta Airlines have chosen to oppose the new Republican law. And Major League Baseball (MLB) also announced the cancellation of the Atlanta All-Star Game and the 2021 draft in protest of the election law.
In response, former U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at the corporations over the weekend, saying the public should in turn boycott the big companies that pressured the election. “For years, radical leftist Democrats have been boycotting products and playing dirty tricks when any act or statement by that company offends them in any way,” he said, “and now they’re going on a rampage to undo the culture and our sacred elections” , “Baseball (Major League Baseball) has lost a lot of fans and now they are pulling out of the All-Star game in Atlanta because they are afraid of radical leftist Democrats who don’t want much-needed voter ID to have anything to do with our elections.”
Gov. Joe Camp told reporters at an April 3 news conference that he believes free and fair elections are “the foundation of who we are as a state and as a people. He said he would continue to support the new bill passed by the Legislature and would not change his mind because of corporate pressure.
And Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-Joe, said April 2 that he is instructing his staff to draft a bill to eliminate the statewide antitrust exemption granted to MLB.
Duncan tweeted, “In light of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) position on undermining the Election Integrity Act, I have directed my staff to begin drafting legislation to eliminate Major League Baseball’s (MLB) antitrust exemption in the state of Joe.” .
Republicans say that with public fears of voter fraud now at an all-time high, Georgia and other states need strict enforcement of election rules and legislation to increase the focus on election security and trust in Georgia’s elections.
And Democrats insist that the law would make it difficult for minorities to vote and is discriminatory. In response, South Carolina Republican state Rep. Nancy Mace pointed out that even Major League Baseball requires fans to have photo identification (ID) when purchasing tickets at the stadium, while at the same time it announced it was pulling out of Atlanta games because of election laws requiring voter ID.
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