General Electric’s political action committee (GEPAC) issued the following letter to GE employees soliciting contributions so that it can support politicians who make money for the company, including with respect to the Waxman-Markey climate bill, financial services reform and military spending.
The e-mail (below) was apparently sent today by John Rice, the CEO of GE Technology Infrastructure:
Dear Colleagues:
I would like to invite you to join me in an important initiative available to GE leaders — the GE Political Action Committee (GEPAC). This year, Senior Professional Band (SPB) employees will have the choice to join other eligible employees to become members of GEPAC.
The intersection between GE’s interests and government action is clearer than ever. GEPAC is an important tool that enables GE employees to collectively help support candidates who share the values and goals of GE. While we must continue to engage elected officials to help them better understand our various businesses and how legislation affects our Company and our customers, we must also make sure that candidates who share GE’s values and goals get elected to office.
Our Company is heavily impacted by a number of issues pending in Washington this fall. For example, we are working hard to ensure that financial services reform includes provisions, which provide important new safeguards over the financial system, while allowing GE Capital to continue to be a vital source of lending to small and mid-market businesses in the United States and around the world. In recent weeks, we have made great strides towards convincing key lawmakers that GE Capital should remain a part of the General Electric Company.
On climate change, we were able to work closely with key authors of the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill, recently passed by the House of Representatives. If this bill is enacted into law it would benefit many GE businesses. We are continuing our efforts to make certain that a final bill includes provisions to ensure the United States maintains its leading position in the renewable energy industry, which is an industry sector of vital importance to the future of GE.
And the issue with the most activity out of our Washington, D.C. Government Relations office this month is the Joint Strike Fighter/F136 Engine. GE is working relentlessly to ensure funding for F136 Engine, which is a critically important program for GE Aviation.
I hope that you will take a minute to learn more about GEPAC and read through the attached FAQs. Passion, optimism, and the will to win are mandatory in any GE leader. Please understand, participation in the GEPAC is not mandatory. Participation is purely voluntary.
Thank you for all your efforts and for learning more about GEPAC. Please be on the lookout for further communications this summer.
John
While there’s nothing wrong with businesses lobbying, it’s pretty gross that GE’s profits depend so much the “intersection” of GE’s interests with government action and on lobbying as opposed to innovation. Moreover, the Waxman-Markey bill is nothing short of anti-American.
But such as the depths to which CEO Jeff Immelt has taken the company. Immelt has overseen the destruction of two-thirds of GE’s shareholder value. He only survives as CEO because his other board members are afraid of firing a colleague who shares a symbiotic relationship with President Obama.
What would Thomas Edison say?