Tech flight from Cleveland, Trump fails to materialize

Tech companies will have a visible presence at this year’s Republican National Convention despite a pressure campaign aimed at getting corporations to distance themselves from Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump.

AT&T is touting itself as the “official communications, video and technology provider” for the GOP convention in Cleveland, while Google is furnishing the live stream. Microsoft will provide its cloud storage, Office software and tablets.   

{mosads}Xerox, one of a half-dozen companies pressured to end its sponsorship, said it would continue its 20-year tradition of donating to both party conventions, though it did not say whether it would match the $250,000 it gave back in 2012. 

“We have made these contributions to both parties’ host committees without prejudice towards or against those nominated by the conventions,” Xerox said in a statement. 

The groups leading the effort to boycott the convention over Trump — ColorOfChange, Credo Action and many others — have claimed mixed success after gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures urging major tech companies to repudiate the GOP candidate’s rhetoric and policies by not sponsoring the event, which will likely end with his nomination.

“Just getting folks to go on the record about their plans is a huge accomplishment, because they don’t have to do that,” said Arisha Hatch, ColorOfChange’s managing director of campaigns. “But I think what we are also seeing is some of the tech corporations trying to play it both ways.” 

It’s clear Trump and the pressure campaign have been factors for companies working with the convention. Many remain mum on whether their donations will equal those made during the last election.

Only Microsoft and Coca-Cola have so far agreed to meet and negotiate with advocates. 

“They are companies that have explicitly marketed to black people and other people of color,” Hatch said. “And so they have more of a vested interest than some of the newer tech companies.”

Microsoft will limit its donations at the GOP convention to tech services, declining to make any cash donations as it has on the Democratic side. The company had about four recent meetings with advocates, but it maintains its decision has been in place since last year, which advocates call “highly implausible.”

“We appreciate that this year’s conventions may have some more dramatic moments than in some prior years,” Microsoft Vice President Fred Humphries wrote last week. “This is all the more reason, in our view, to ensure that they benefit from technology tools that are used for a range of important activities.”

During the 2012 GOP convention in Tampa, Microsoft donated more than $1.5 million to the city’s host committee. Roughly half of the donations were purely cash. 

Six technology companies have become the public target of the pressure campaign: Google, Microsoft, AT&T, Xerox, Adobe and Cisco.

Combined, those companies donated more than $16 million in cash and in-kind donations to the 2012 GOP convention in Tampa, according to the Sunlight Foundation, a government transparency watchdog. AT&T and Cisco had the largest contributions, with more than $3 million each. 

While the entirety of Cisco’s $3.03 million donation consisted of the use of the company’s networking services and equipment, AT&T provided both telephone services and $1.5 million in cash, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records.

In 2016, AT&T has again been the most visible about its sponsorship. In March, the GOP host committee blasted out a press release and created a website to announce AT&T as the “official provider” of communications, video and technology in Cleveland.

The company plans to lay more fiber, bring in extra cells, and boost 4G capacity in the convention city in anticipation of the huge amount of smartphone use expected during the event. Television coverage at the venue will also be provided by DirecTV, which is owned by AT&T. 

“Our expertise is communications, and we invest and prepare our network extensively for events like these,” AT&T said in a statement. “At the same time, we also recognize the important role both conventions play in the functioning of our democracy, and are proud to support them on an impartial basis.”

Google, which donated $350,000 in 2012, was pressured last week to publicly state it would be providing the official live stream for the event but did not describe any other sponsorship. 

It made the announcement on the same day that advocates staged a protest at the company’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, where they delivered half a million petition signatures. 

Other blue-chip tech companies that were involved in Tampa include Motorola, which provided more than $621,500 in services and donations, and Hewlett-Packard, which wrote a check for $150,000 and donated more than $400,000 in computers and equipment.

Online vehicle auction company Copart threw in $500,000 for Republicans in 2012, and its founder, Willis J. Johnson, gave an additional $500,000, according to FEC forms.

The nominating conventions are expensive, with the Cleveland host committee setting its fundraising goal at $64 million. It has raised $56 million of that amount to date, according to spokeswoman Emily Lauer.

While national parties are responsible for some of the costs, the host committee — which secures the venue and provides the security, technology and other nonpolitical budget items — takes on the brunt of the expenses.