KC’s Hallmark PAC demands Hawley, Marshall return donations after deadly Capitol riot
Hallmark Cards is asking Kansas City area U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley and Roger Marshall to return employee donations following last week’s riot in Washington, D.C.
Employees and retirees of the Kansas City company pool financial contributions through the Hallmark Cards PAC, donating to political candidates at the local, state and federal levels.
Over the last two years, the group donated $7,000 to Hawley, of Missouri, and $5,000 to Marshall, of Kansas, officials said.
Both Republican senators have been widely condemned for supporting baseless allegations of voter fraud in the November presidential election. Those claims fueled supporters of President Donald Trump to storm the capitol building last week. Six people, including two U.S. Capitol Police officers, died in the aftermath of the violent attack.
“Hallmark believes the peaceful transition of power is part of the bedrock of our democratic system, and we abhor violence of any kind,” Hallmark spokeswoman JiaoJiao Shen said in a statement. “The recent actions of Senators Josh Hawley and Roger Marshall do not reflect our company’s values. As a result, HALLPAC requested Sens. Hawley and Marshall to return all HALLPAC campaign contributions.”
The political action committee began in 1976 and generally spends about $50,000 to $60,000 per year on campaign activities, Shen said. Donations are generally split evenly between Republican and Democratic candidates, she said.
Commerce Bank, another Kansas City based company, announced on Monday that it would suspend donations to any members of Congress that opposed recognizing the Electoral College victory of President-elect Joe Biden.
“At this time, we have suspended all support for officials who have impeded the peaceful transfer of power,” the company said in a statement. “Commerce Bank condemns violence in any form and believes the actions witnessed last week are abhorrent, anti-democratic and entirely contrary to supporting goodwill for Americans and businesses.”
Federal campaign finance records show the bank gave $2,000 to Hawley in October 2019 and $2,500 to Marshall in July 2020.
Hallmark and Commerce Bank add to a growing list of corporations distancing themselves from Republicans who objected to certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.
CNN reported other large company PACs, including American Express, Dow Chemical and Marriott, will suspend donations to the 147 members of Congress who voted against certifying Biden’s victory. Other companies, including Facebook and JPMorgan, are suspending political donations altogether.
The abandonment from donors is an unusual turn in American politics.
Usually, politicians will return funds from donors who get into legal or ethical trouble, said Robert Boatright, professor and chairman of the political science department at Clark University in Massachusetts.
“What’s more noteworthy, though, is that Hallmark is one of the biggest employers in Kansas City, so that’s actually a pretty powerful statement for them to make,” Boatright, a campaign finance expert, said in a statement. “It’s a big rebuke.”
Kansas City-based H&R Block said in a statement it was “pausing political giving” from its bipartisan PAC.
“H&R Block unequivocally condemns acts of violence and supports a peaceful transfer of power,” the company said in a statement, adding that “now more than ever, our country needs to remain united and honor our democratic process.”
H&R Block Inc. PAC gave Hawley’s campaign committee $5,000 in March. The group gave Marshall $2,500 in March and $5,000 after the election in November.
Several large Kansas City employers donated to Marshall or Hawley but could not immediately be reached for comment about whether they would continue to do so going forward.
J.E. Dunn’s PAC donated a total $5,600 to Marshall’s campaign this year. Polsinelli gave Marshall’s campaign $2,500 in 2020 and $3,500 in 2019.
Evergy gave Marshall $7,500 this year and Hawley $5,000.
While Marshall was running for his Senate seat this year, Hawley wouldn’t face reelection until 2024.
In 2019, the PAC representing Kansas City based Burns & McDonnell donated $10,000 to Marshall and $5,000 to Hawley. That group exists to advocate for employee stock ownership plans, like the one that benefits employees of the engineering and architecture firm, said spokeswoman Kristi Widmar.
“Our PAC supports candidates from both parties who will listen to the great good that comes from employee ownership,” she said in a statement. “We are disturbed and disheartened by actions of some of our elected officials in our democratic election process. We are now reviewing our policies to make sure the elected officials our PAC has supported reflect the values of our employee-owned company.”
The PACs representing Sprint and T-Mobile have given to both Hawley and Marshall over the last two years. T-Mobile, based in the Seattle area, purchased Overland Park’s Sprint Corp. last year.
In a statement, T-Mobile spokeswoman Lisa Belot said the company is examining its political donations.
“The assault on the U.S. Capitol and on democracy was unacceptable,” the statement read. “T-Mobile has supported many elected officials in a bipartisan approach to advancing a policy agenda that keeps the U.S. on the forefront of wireless technology. In light of recent events, we intend to reevaluate our PAC giving, and we look forward to working with the incoming Administration.
The corporate fallout is just the latest blow to Missouri’s freshman senator. Hawley was the first senator to announce an objection last week. After Wednesday’s insurrection, many Republican leaders began to abandon him and Simon & Schuster canceled the publication of his upcoming book, “The Tyranny of Big Tech.”
Former Missouri Sen. John Danforth for years promoted Hawley as the future of the Republican Party and a contender for the White House. Last week, he said “it was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life,” blaming his former protégé for helping to incite the insurrection.
Congresswoman Cori Bush, a Democrat representing St. Louis, has called for the expulsion of every lawmaker who challenged Biden’s Electoral College victory, which would include Hawley and Marshall.
Aside from its marquee greeting card business, the privately held Hallmark owns the Crayola brand of art supplies, cable television’s Hallmark Channel and the real estate development company that oversees the 85-acre Crown Center complex in Kansas City.
Hawley, a former Missouri attorney general, defeated Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, in 2018.
Marshall was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016 after defeating incumbent Republican Rep. Tim Huelskamp. He was elected to the Senate in November, defeating Kansas physician Barbara Bollier, a Democrat.
Staffers in Marshall and Hawley’s offices did not respond to requests for comment.
This story was originally published January 11, 2021 at 1:15 PM.
