The following was posted by Microsoft President Brad Smith on an internal Microsoft message forum on June 8, 2019. I recently wrote about the dissonance between Microsoft's political giving and Mr. Smith's public comments, including the promises he makes here.
I appreciate all the feedback on this thread. I think it's worth noting that the PAC has recently changed its donation criteria to add a new element—to "take into consideration alignment with MS values around diversity & inclusion." I hope this will help address the concerns that several of you have raised.
For completeness, the PAC now bases its donations on four elements, which you can read here:
- Substantive alignment with Microsoft business or policy priorities.
- Take into consideration alignment with MS values around diversity & inclusion.
- Holds elected positions that impact Microsoft policy priorities (e.g, Congressional leadership or committee assignment); and
- Represents geographic areas that have Microsoft facilities and employees.
As a longstanding donor to the PAC myself, I do think it's important for it to be bipartisan in nature, and that means that the candidates the PAC supports will have some differing positions on many important issues. But the PAC has made it a goal to align its support more clearly around candidates that have views that are more consistent with Microsoft's values around diversity and inclusion, in particular. And given the company's longstanding support for the LGBTQI+ community, this is a specific area that deserves heightened importance.
There's also work underway to increase the transparency of the PAC and create new opportunities to connect with and get input from employees -- regardless of whether they are members of the PAC. More on that to come in the very near future, including ways for you to share your suggestions.
It would be easy to give up on the PAC and simply abolish it. That way no one would ever have to worry about internal or external debates about who the PAC is supporting. But I do think that would be a setback for Microsoft. If we can all work to gether to promote a PAC that is bipartisan but also aligned with our views on diversity and inclusion, I think that would serve us all the best. That's the current goal, and at least for now, I would ask all of you who have clearly given this some considered and good thought to see if you can help us succeed by continuing to share your ideas on how we can make the PAC better.