Elizabeth Warren Slams Amazon For $1 Million Donation To Change Seattle City Council

KIRO 7 News, Oct. 20, 2019. Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren slammed Amazon on Twitter Saturday for what she says are the e-commerce giant's efforts, "trying to tilt the Seattle City Council elections in their favor."

This comes after Amazon made a million-dollar donation Tuesday to the Settle Chamber of Commerce political action committee called the Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy, or CASE.

We're not trying to dictate the makeup of the council. We're just trying to communicate with voters that they have a choice," said Executive Director Markham McIntyre.

Earlier this year, Amazon also contributed $400,000 to CASE and that brings the total to more than $1.4 million in all.

Business-backed CASE is supporting candidates thought to be more conservative. Out of seven candidates it supports, only Debora Juarez currently sits on the council.

Warren also stated in the tweet, "I'm with the Seattle council members and activists who continue standing up to Amazon."

Elizabeth Warren
✔ @ewarren
Surprise: Amazon is trying to tilt the Seattle City Council elections in their favor. I'm with the Seattle council members and activists who continue standing up to Amazon. Corporations aren't people, and I have a plan to get big money out of politics. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/18/technology/amazon-seattle-council-election.html …

More, https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/elizabeth-warren-slams-amazon-for-1-million-donation-to-change-seattle-city-council/999721685

- Amazon's Growing Spending On Seattle Politics Includes A Spate of Donations from Jeff Bezos' 'S Team,' Seattle Times
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/amazons-growing-spending-on-seattle-politics-includes-a-spate-of-donations-from-jeff-bezos-s-team/

...Earlier this year, 11 members of Amazon’s so-called “S Team” — senior leaders who report directly to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos — started writing checks to a group of Seattle City Council candidates and a political-action committee. For most of the executives, it marked their first donations to Seattle council races.
The local political spending of Amazon’s top executives, along with a record-setting $1 million contribution to a pro-business political-action committee last week, underscore the company’s desire for a more accommodating council in the city where it occupies nearly 50 buildings and has more than 50,000 employees.

It’s also another signal of the evolving relationship between Amazon and its hometown, and is drawing national attention ahead of a pivotal election, including from Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Despite its decision a decade ago to grow an urban campus, the $900 billion commerce and technology giant had remained largely aloof from local politics...