Apple to Arizona: Anti-gay bill puts Mesa sapphire plant at risk

[n2doc]

Source: CNN

Apple (AAPL) confirmed Monday that it has urged Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to veto a bill that would allow business owners with strongly held religious beliefs to deny service to gays and lesbians.

Since the Arizona statehouse passed the measure last Thursday, Gov. Brewer has faced growing pressure to kill the bill that opponents characterize as "state-sanctioned discrimination."

Three state senators who voted for the bill are now asking her to veto it. So are Arizona's two U.S. Senators: John McCain and Jeff Flake, both Republicans. American Airlines (AAL) and Marriott (MAR) have warned that an anti-gay law could be bad for business.

We don't know who at Apple phoned the Governor, or what exactly was said. But it was only last November that Tim Cook announced that Apple was building a sapphire glass plant in Mesa, AZ, that would bring 2,000 new jobs to the state.


Read more: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2014/02/25/apple-arizona-gay-discrimination/

[Aristus]

1. Now that the dog-whistle has done its job, Brewer can veto the bill safely.

The only thing the sponsors of the bill were trying to do was to shout out to the state's ultra-right-wing haters that 'Hey, I'm on your side!...'

That will earn them re-election even if the bill doesn't pass.

[jsr]

3. Precisely.

[Auggie]

4. +1

[lostincalifornia]

5. It is already reported on Huffington Post that she will veto it.

[Aristus]

6. Well, Governor Hagfinger may be evil, but she's not stupid.

Of course, there's nothing to stop this bill from sprouting up like a poisonous mushroom in the next legislative session...

[ChairmanAgnostic]

8. actually, she tends towards the lower end of the scale IQ -wise.

[KamaAina]

9. Right you are.

Remember, she was one of a handful of repuke/teabagger governors who approved the Medicaid expansion under the ACA.

[LittleGirl]

16. and my friend got a job with the state for that.

She and 200 other people got jobs in Phoenix for the Obamacare roll out. Smartest thing she did.

[lostincalifornia]

2. Apple, move it to another state that is more enlightened.

[TM99]

7. This, from Apple, is excellent

and among other voices will get the Governor to veto this atrocity. She won't have a choice given the business push-back. I wish it was more because it is simply the right thing to do, but perhaps she will surprise me. She did so recently when she authorized expansion of medicaid via AHCCCS with the ACA. She did it because it is the right thing to do.

So, not all here in AZ are 'unelightened'.

There is already a large semiconductor industry here so the jobs, the talent, and the need is great for this plant. SRP is already building new solar and geothermal plants to supply Apple with 100% renewable energy.

We deserve this and the more 'enlightened' businesses move into Arizona the better for LGBT civil rights in general.

[lostincalifornia]

11. Of course not all people in Arizona are "unenlightened"

[Bandit]

15. Just the people they elect to represent them.

[kiranon]

14. Move the plant whether the Governor signs or vetos the bill because

the Arizona legislature Will just bring the bill back or something even worse. Arizonans need to elect a governor and state legislature that is less tea party and more main stream. Judging from my relatives in Arizona, it isn't going to happen any time soon.

[arcane1]

10. "Three state senators who voted for the bill are now asking her to veto it."

I hate these cheap-ass bandwagon-jumping pricks!!!

[Pretzel_Warrior]

13. they are ass holes. if she vetoes it, they can still say they voted for the law in their campaign

literatuer and TV ads. sickening.

[okaawhatever]

18. They will play both sides of the fence. They will advertise that they voted for it to the bigots and

advertise that they encouraged her to veto it to the rest.

[azurnoir]

12. Good may more businesses follow suit

along with a dive in tourism should this bill pass

[DFW]

17. I know what I would do if I were AAPL

I'd not only have contingency plans to cancel AZ and build in another state, but I'd also offer to help pay for any prospective AZ employees to relocate, with the moving contracts being given exclusively to moving companies in the new state.

A tax base of 2000 employees plus the sales taxes lost on what those 2000 employees (not to mention the plant itself!) would be spending each year--even Jan Brewer knows how to use a calculator.

[Coyotl]

19. Time to organize boycotts of tourism, companies in Arizona.

Vote with your dollars.

[Cha]

20. WooHoo.. you know Brewer will Kill the Ugly Bill!

[BrotherIvan]

21. These ALEC bills will all go down in every state

No one wants to take on big business so some backwater diner and a hobby lobby can be all biggoty. These people just need to die off for fuck's sake.