3 ms·

I don't see how it's fundamentally any different from a pro-life group wanting to donate to a pro-life candidate and then celebrating the passage of a pro-life

by eli 12y ago

I don't see how it's fundamentally any different from a pro-life group wanting to donate to a pro-life candidate and then celebrating the passage of a pro-life law. Of course you want to support candidates who look after your interests. As long as there is no quid pro quo (e.g. the $50k was a fee for passing the initiative and it wouldn't have happened otherwise). IANAL.

task_queue 12y ago
There are limitations on donations. They wanted to donate $50k. By law, they can't do that. So they manipulated how they donated that sum to circumvent that law.
- azinman2 12y ago
  But it's not quite the same as sony still giving it up. Their execs had to pay out of their own pocket. I'm actually glad to see that they cared about the law at all, and there was some level of effectiveness to it!
- eli 12y ago
  Nonsense. They didn't "manipulate" anything. The company made a legal donation and they asked employees to make additional donations up to a certain target amount from the employee's own funds. It's perfectly legal to email your coworkers about a political campaign and to ask them to donate. Does this kind of suck? Maybe. Is campaign finance a mess? Definitely. But would you really want a federal law that restricts what you can say about political campaigns while at work? I'm not even sure the Constitution would permit such a restriction on speech.
  - hurin 12y ago
    To quote the email: because we need your help. we have a great production incentive environment in NY Because of all of this, I think it’s important to significantly support his reelection efforts and NY law only allows corporations to give him $5,000 we are trying to raise $50k overall. Like I said, I'm not sure where this falls on the legal-side of things, but this clearly goes further than merely: > It's perfectly legal to email your coworkers about a political campaign and to ask them to donate.
    - eli 12y ago
      I think we'll just have to agree to disagree. I would guess Sony executives and the Sony Corporation have closely aligned financial incentives. It's perfectly reasonable for them to want to spend personal funds on the campaigns that Sony Corp thinks are important. We can't restrict corporate employees from spending their own money any more than we restrict the general public. Nor can (or should) we restrict what you're allowed to say to coworkers about a political campaign.

by eli 12y ago

task_queue 12y ago

There are limitations on donations. They wanted to donate $50k. By law, they can't do that. So they manipulated how they donated that sum to circumvent that law.

azinman2 12y ago
But it's not quite the same as sony still giving it up. Their execs had to pay out of their own pocket. I'm actually glad to see that they cared about the law at all, and there was some level of effectiveness to it!
eli 12y ago
Nonsense. They didn't "manipulate" anything. The company made a legal donation and they asked employees to make additional donations up to a certain target amount from the employee's own funds. It's perfectly legal to email your coworkers about a political campaign and to ask them to donate. Does this kind of suck? Maybe. Is campaign finance a mess? Definitely. But would you really want a federal law that restricts what you can say about political campaigns while at work? I'm not even sure the Constitution would permit such a restriction on speech.
- hurin 12y ago
  To quote the email: because we need your help. we have a great production incentive environment in NY Because of all of this, I think it’s important to significantly support his reelection efforts and NY law only allows corporations to give him $5,000 we are trying to raise $50k overall. Like I said, I'm not sure where this falls on the legal-side of things, but this clearly goes further than merely: > It's perfectly legal to email your coworkers about a political campaign and to ask them to donate.
  - eli 12y ago
    I think we'll just have to agree to disagree. I would guess Sony executives and the Sony Corporation have closely aligned financial incentives. It's perfectly reasonable for them to want to spend personal funds on the campaigns that Sony Corp thinks are important. We can't restrict corporate employees from spending their own money any more than we restrict the general public. Nor can (or should) we restrict what you're allowed to say to coworkers about a political campaign.