Marcario says Patagonia is endorsing Senator Tester, and Nevada’s Jacky Rosen, to let people know that those candidates share the company’s values when it comes to protecting public lands. “Yeah, I think that’s the conventional wisdom, but I don’t think we’re a conventional company by any means,” Marcario said. Patagonia, which has an outlet store in Dillon, is also a for-profit company, and conventional wisdom in the corporate world is that taking political stands is risky, because it could alienate customers, or turn off potential new customers. “Our reason for existence is protecting these wild places,” Marcario said. Marcario says that while Patagonia has never endorsed specific candidates before, it started supporting activists and organizations that preserve public lands, waters and biodiversity 46 years ago. "I think the difference is, our activism - we put our logo on activism.” “I don’t think corporations influencing elections and policy is anything new," says Rose Marcario, Patagonia’s chief executive officer. “What they would typically do would be to set up a political action committee that would be funded by individual employees of the corporation, usually executives, and then that political action committee could then be active in those campaigns,” Quist said.
Quist says that prior to the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, this kind of direct corporate funding for political candidates would have been illegal. Patagonia also endorsed Nevada Democrat Jacky Rosen in that state’s Senate race.
“That’s difficult to verify for certain, because there isn’t a comprehensive database for that, but it’s the first one that we’re aware of,” Quist said. “It may be the first time that a for-profit corporation has come out with an endorsement on their website for political candidates,” said Peter Quist, the research director at the National Institute on Money in Politics in Helena. That may not be surprising for people familiar with the company, but campaign finance experts say it could be a first. The outdoor clothing company Patagonia announced this Friday that it’s endorsing Montana Democratic Senator Jon Tester’s re-election campaign.
0 kommentar(er)
