After the CEO of Georgia-based Delta Airlines caved to pressure from left wing activist groups and criticized a bill signed into law requiring voter identification for absentee ballots, Georgia’s House Republicans responded by voting to strip Delta of a major tax credit.
Delta has long-enjoyed a $35 million tax credit on jet fuel in the Peach State, but Thursday night, that tax credit was jeopardized, as House Republicans voted along party lines to end it, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) made it perfectly clear that the vote was retaliation for Delta’s criticism.
“They like our public policy when we’re doing things that benefit them,” Ralston reportedly said. “You don’t feed a dog that bites your hand. You got to keep that in mind sometimes.”
He presided over the vote while drinking a Pepsi, a symbolic gesture aimed at Coca Cola, also based in Georgia, which also criticized the state’s new voter identification law.
Delta’s CEO Ed Bastian weighed in earlier this week.
“I need to make it crystal clear that the final bill is unacceptable and does not match Delta’s values,” he said. “The right to vote is sacred. It is fundamental to our democracy and those rights not only need to be protected but easily facilitated in a safe and secure manner.”
The law in question does not strip anyone of the right to vote. It simply requires that voters who wish to vote with an absentee ballot provide identification, a security measure meant to secure future elections. The 2020 election cycle in Georgia was marred by questions surrounding the absentee voting process, some of which remain unresolved.
Still, Democrats complain that new law is an act of “voter suppression.”
As The Georgia Star News reported Thursday, Delta’s stance on voter identification is directly opposite of its policy that requires passengers to show a photo ID when flying. The company has never been accused of “suppressing” would-be airline passengers.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Georgia Star News and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to dabroscareports@gmail.com.