Business Leaders Respond to Starbucks CEO's Pledge to Boycott Campaign Contributions

Aug. 16, 2011 — -- It's far from a stampede of support yet, but a few business leaders are getting behind Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz's pledge to stop all campaign contributions to incumbents until they create a long-term debt deal.

"Right now our economy is frozen in a cycle of fear and uncertainty. Companies are afraid to hire. Consumers are afraid to spend. Banks are afraid to lend," Schultz wrote in a letter dated August 15 to officially launch his campaign, as first reported by the New York Times.

"The only way to break this cycle of fear is to break it. The only way to get the country's economic circulatory system flowing again is to start pumping lifeblood through it," he wrote. "That is why we today issue a second pledge. Our companies are going to hire. We are going to accelerate growth, employment, and investment in jobs."

Nasdaq OMX Group CEO Bob Greifeld forwarded Schultz's letter to all the companies listed in that exchange.

"I think that Howard's idea is a great one, and I have told him that he can count on me," Greifeld wrote in his email to those companies. "At NASDAQ OMX, we will also continue to invest in the future by hiring and focusing our efforts on job creation."

Duncan Niederauer, CEO of the NYSE Euronext, also sent Schultz's email to the 3,000 CEOs in that exchange.

"I am bullish on the state of corporate America, and the millions of jobs which support this powerful network," Niederauer wrote in his email forward to those companies. "Now is the time for corporate leadership, and for the collective voice of our CEOs to be heard. It is my hope that our leaders can put politics aside and focus on generating long-term sustainable growth driven by the private sector."

Greifeld and Niederauer were not available for comment.

Schultz donated $27,900 to seven political candidates from 2007 to 2011, according to the Center for Responsive Politics' website, OpenSecrets.org.

Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., who received one of the most recent donations from Schultz, of $2,400 in May 2010, said his statements reflect the frustrations of many Americans.

"Congress must immediately pass a jobs bill that promotes employment and economic growth," she told ABC News. "Americans must actively participate in the political process by voting and supporting candidates that put the needs of people before politics."

Schultz's most recent campaign donation was to Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who was not immediately available to comment along with Schultz's other donation recipients.

Schultz's pledge kicked off as Michele Bachmann clinched the Republican Iowa straw poll for the presidential nomination and the candidates try to woo donors across the country.

A Starbucks spokeswoman said the response has been "positive," though she said she could not provide additional names of CEOs who back the plan.