“Amid MLB moving All-Star Game from Georgia, Florida CFO says corporations should stay out of politics” Fox News Talia Kaplan April 6, 2021 To read the full story, click here.    Florida's Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis argued on "Cavuto: Coast to Coast" Tuesday that corporations - including Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines, as well as Major League Baseball (MLB) - should not get involved in politics.   Patronis said that he wants to take his two young children to a baseball game without “getting a lesson on separation of power from corporate America.”

The Florida official made the comments following the announcement that MLB is moving the 2021 All-Star Game out of Georgia in protest of the state's new voting laws. The game is now reportedly headed to Colorado - which has some rules that are similar, if not even more restrictive.

The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that MLB will relocate the game to Denver’s Coors Field after pulling it from Atlanta over Georgia voting laws.

Delta and Coca-Cola are among the companies condemning Georgia's HB 531 --  the controversial election reform bill that Gov. Brian Kemp signed last month, after it passed in the Republican-controlled legislature.

---   Florida lawmakers are also looking to make changes to the way the state carries out its elections. Last month, a Florida House committee took up its own effort to rewrite vote-by-mail rules, as Republicans push to enhance “ballot security” even though there has been no concrete evidence of widespread problems. Democrats and voter rights advocates have argued that the election-related proposals would be costly and will make it harder for some Floridians to vote.

When asked if he's concerned if Florida could face a similar corporate backlash to changes to the state’s voting law Patronis, a fourth generation Floridian, noted that “it wasn’t that long ago that Florida was the laughing stock of the nation because of our challenges with our own election processes.”

“This past election cycle we were fast, we were effective, everyone who wanted to vote got a change to vote,” he continued. “But I don’t need Coca-Cola or Delta getting involved in my politics. I don’t need Major League Baseball getting involved in my politics.”

He acknowledged that Florida has been doing well overall in terms of attracting corporations because the state is “open for business” and “we don’t have civil unrest” or “the crazy lunatics leading states like New York or California does.”

He noted that hundreds of people move to the state of Florida every single day, primarily from northern states.

“We welcome them with open arms,” he said.   ###