100 CEO's Halt Campaign Donations

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Led by Howard Schultz of Starbucks, more than 100 CEOs have signed a pledge to halt all political campaign contributions until lawmakers, as Schultz puts it, "stop the partisan gridlock in Washington, D.C."

Last week, he mounted a one-man protest against a political culture that has "chosen to put partisan and ideological purity over the well being of the people." Schultz said he was going to stop writing checks, and he asked other CEOs to join him... They have.

AOL, Frontier Communications, Zipcar, Whole Foods and Intuit — just to name a few — have all signed up. The goal is to hit lawmakers right where it hurts: the pocketbook.

"All it seems people are interested in is re-election," Schultz told CNNMoney last week. "And that re-election -- the lifeblood of it is fundraising." Schultz has said his breaking point was the contentious debate over raising the debt ceiling -- and the failure to reach a long-term solution to lower deficits.

"Lawmakers have stirred up fears about our economic prospects without doing anything to truly address those fears," Schultz wrote in a letter sent to his fellow CEOs.

He said politicians can still make it right by coming together and reaching a compromise deal that would lift the cloud of uncertainty that has hamstrung the economy. It's unclear exactly how much of an impact -- if any -- Schultz's CEO pledge might have. But a relatively small number of Americans do wield an outsized influence when it comes to political donations.

Only 0.04 percent of Americans give in excess of $200 to candidates, parties or political action committees -- and those donations account for 64.8 percent of all contributions. So what do you think? Is cutting off political donations an effective way of disciplining our greedy politicians? Leave a comment below and let us know.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/15/starbucks-howard-schultz-boycott-cam...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-100-ceos-promise-no-campa...

http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/24/news/economy/ceo_pledge_donations/

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• starbucks
• boycott
• campaign donations
• howard schultz
• ceos
• debt ceiling
• economy
• donations
• lobbying

[burnadet1]

This could be and should be the issue that sharpens the focus of the occupy protests.

[MrBrotherlenny]

Yes, yes I do! I just hope they don't steal the money to spend on campaigns !

[Alphapunk2]

@MonsterAudrey lol xD

[MonsterAudrey]

FIRST COMMENT BOOH YAH! wait i want a guitar lesson by Jen. D: