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Exclusive: A Group of Microsoft Employees Is Fighting the Company’s Political Action Committee
Employees say there’s no way to dictate how the PAC spends their money, even when it conflicts with the company’s progressive values
A group of more than 30 Microsoft employees is lobbying coworkers to stop donating to the company’s political action committee in an effort to starve the PAC of funds, multiple Microsoft workers with knowledge of the efforts told OneZero.
While Microsoft pitches itself as an inclusive and progressive company — especially during Pride Month, with tweets and donations to LGBTQ+ causes — employees who have donated to the PAC say they have no control over which candidates are being supported, meaning that they have no say when the PAC financially supports candidates whose views the employees don’t want to support. Microsoft employees who spoke to OneZero — on the condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals — say that the PAC doesn’t ask employees for input or supply avenues to suggest or control which candidates should be supported.
“Candidates that we dislike are those that advance policies contrary to the company’s stated policies of diversity, inclusion, and growth mindset,” one employee, who said they had persuaded about 10 others to stop donating to the PAC, told OneZero.
The PAC is a voluntary, opt-in fund that’s entirely supported by donations from more than 4,000 of Microsoft’s 140,000 employees, according to a 2015 blog post. The goal of Microsoft’s “MSPAC” is to “support and encourage the election to federal offices of persons who support the needs of business in a free and healthy economy,” according to its website. In other words, the PAC exists to extend Microsoft’s political influence and serve its business interests. It also brings prominent speakers to campus for employees who donate to MSPAC, and occasionally opens those events up to nondonors.
As is the case with many tech companies, Microsoft also separately lobbies politicians, though at nearly 10 times the scale of the employee-driven PAC, according to OpenSecrets.
MSPAC is run by Kelly Eaton, a Microsoft employee who previously worked at Hewlett-Packard…
