‘Economic Extortion’: Republicans Demand MLB Release Docs on All-Star Game Boycott

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, questions Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence
Shawn Thew/Pool Photo via AP

Republicans are demanding Major League Baseball (MLB) release documents pertaining to their decision to relocate the All-Star Game from Atlanta due to Georgia’s election integrity law.

Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Jody Hice (R-GA), and James Comer (R-KY) said MLB’s “attempted economic extortion that has harmed small businesses in and around Atlanta” should be investigated and therefore requested the following documents:

1. All documents and communications referring or relating to the relocation of the 2021 AllStar Game for the period January 1, 2021, to the present;

2. All documents and communications referring or relating to MLB’s examination of election laws in Georgia;

3. All documents and communications referring or relating to MLB’s examination of election laws in Colorado or New York;

4. All documents and communications referring or relating to MLB’s examination of election laws in China or Cuba; and

5. All documents and communications between employees, contractors, or representatives of MLB and employees or representatives of civil rights or voting rights organizations

The Republican’s letter continued, “MLB’s decision to insert itself in Georgia’s election laws was based on inaccurate and politicized information.”

“Although Democrats and some woke corporate elites like to claim that the new Georgia law constitutes ‘Jim Crow 2.0’ and ‘voter suppression,'” the letter reiterates, “these claims are false and unfounded.

“In fact, the law enhances access to voting and many of the new provisions ‘are popular even among Black voters,'” the authors said by citing “an Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll found that 74 percent of Georgians support voter ID requirements, including 63 percent of African American respondents.”

The conservative Republicans also pointed to MLB’s hypocrisy in working with Communist China and Cuba, which suppresses “free and fair elections.”

“MLB’s opposition to voter integrity measures in Georgia is also unabashedly hypocritical in light of MLB’s close partnerships with communist regimes in China and Cuba—two countries that suppress free and fair elections,” they wrote.

The letter then remarks on MLB’s constitutional right to oppose election integrity efforts, but “The trouble comes when MLB uses its immense market power and resources as a cudgel to achieve its preferred public policy outcome,” the letter goes on.

“Please produce this material as soon as possible but no later than 5:00 p.m. on May 6, 2021,” the letter concludes.

The letter comes after Sens Ted Cruz (R-TX), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced legislation to end MLB’s special immunity from antitrust law on April 16.

Breitbart News reported, “The legislation intends to expose MLB to legal risks and alter existing business partnerships, particularly concerning ‘minor league baseball, franchise relocation, intellectual property and several other topics,'” concerning collective bargaining agreement.

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