9 CEOs call on Pence, legislature to modify 'religious freedom' law

A who's who of top Indiana business executives called on Gov. Mike Pence and legislative leaders to reform the newly passed Religious Freedom Restoration Act so it can't be used to "justify discrimination based upon sexual orientation or gender identity."

The one-page letter was released Monday afternoon after being hand-delivered to Pence, House Speaker Brian Bosma and Senate President David Long.

The nine CEOs signing the letter head some of the state's largest employers, including Eli Lilly and Co., Anthem and Indiana University Health. They are part of a coalition of businesses that has lobbied against the controversial RFRA legislation, marking one of the most active and heated political lobbying campaigns that Indiana businesses have ever undertaken on a social issue.

The letter said the nine companies are "deeply concerned about the impact (RFRA) is having on our employees and on the reputation of our state."

It calls on the governor and legislature to "make it clear that Indiana is the welcoming state we all believe it to be. As leaders in the Indiana business community, we call on you to take immediate action to ensure that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act will not sanction or encourage discrimination against any residents or visitors to our state by anyone."

The business leaders want Pence and the legislature to immediately enact new legislation to clarify that the RFRA can't be used to discriminate against anyone for their sexual orientation or gender identify.

Jon Mills, spokesman for Cummins Inc., whose CEO Tom Linebarger signed the letter, said changing the RFRA legislation likely will involve introducing a new amendment in the current session of the legislature or stripping part of an existing bill to insert language that would modify the RFRA.

Pence said over the weekend he is open to "clarifying" the new law.

Other executives signing the letter were Bill Oesterle, CEO of Angie's List; Joseph Swedish, CEO of Anthem; Jeff Smulyan, CEO of Emmis Communications; Dan Evans, CEO of Indiana University Health; Jack Phillips, CEO of Roche Diagnostics; John Lechleiter, CEO of Eli Lilly and Co.; and Tim Hassinger, CEO of Dow AgroSciences.

The uproar over the Indiana RFRA, which Pence signed into law last week, has been stoked in part by a business community that has become less abashed in recent years about active lobbying on social issues, such as gay rights.

Where large and small corporations once steered clear of such social controversies, fearing it would alienate customers, today they're more likely to engage.

That major companies found the door slammed in their collective face in opposing RFRA — at least so far — just points up that the traditional alliance in Indiana between leading corporations in the state and the Republicans who run the legislature and governor's office isn't as tight as some might think. Lobbyists for social conservatives also have considerable influence.

In enacting RFRA, the legislature and Pence untypically defied the wishes of Indiana's largest corporations, including Lilly, Cummins, Cook Group and Anthem.

Cummins and other companies testified against RFRA legislation at public hearings. Other firms weighed in with letters or by button-holing legislators from their home districts.

It didn't seem to help the anti-RFRA cause even when two companies with influential Republicans at their helm came out against RFRA. They were Angie's List, whose CEO Oesterle managed Republican Mitch Daniels' 2004 gubernatorial campaign, and Kittle's Furniture, whose chairman, Jim Kittle Jr., was chairman of the Indiana Republican Party from 2002 to 2006.

Kittle's has prominently placed the blue "This Business Serves Everyone" anti-RFRA decal on its Facebook page.

Oesterle was so incensed with the legislation that he canceled his company's proposed plan to use $18 million in state and city aid to expand its headquarters on the Near Eastside.

In his comments on RFRA, Oesterle suggested that he and other business leaders were surprised their opinions weren't taken more seriously by Republicans in the legislature.

"In retrospect I wish I had been more public" in opposing RFRA, he said. "I was stunned how quickly that came together, the rapid-fire signing of that bill."

Oesterle said Monday he'd be willing to resume talks with the state about his company's $40 million expansion if the legislature took decisive action to modify RFRA, "not some Band-Aid put over to attempt to mask this."

Homegrown corporate opposition to RFRA has spread to out-of-state companies, with some essentially putting private sanctions in place against Indiana as a way to show their displeasure.

The CEO of San Francisco-based Salesforce.com, which owns locally based ExactTarget, declared in Twitter posts that Salesforce will stop holding meetings in Indiana as a protest over the passage of RIFRA.

The RFRA debate shows not just how corporations are taking a more active role in social issues, but that they expect to be heard, said Hoosier native Melissa D. Dodd, an assistant professor of advertising-public relations at the University of Central Florida.

"The big take-away is that, when you have a huge company like Angie's List, it really shows the impact of these companies and how they are starting to own social-political issues and make them core to who the company is," Dodd said.

Dodd calls it "corporate social advocacy" and said it emerged strongly in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 ruling in the Citizens United case. That ruling essentially prohibited government limits on political contributions from corporations, labor unions and other associations.

"When you take a stand on a controversial social-political issue, you can potentially isolate stakeholders while at the same time attracting activist groups. It's strange to think that companies now are really engaging in this dialog," she said.

Perhaps what's driving it, Dodd said, is research showing 56 percent of Americans want companies to not only get engaged in controversial issues but take a stand.

"If they're not talking about it then they're not part of the conversation, and today, more than ever...if you're not part of the conversation then you sort of become obsolete."

Call Star reporter Jeff Swiatek at (317)444-6483. Follow him on Twitter: @JeffSwiatek.

Text of RFRA letter from Indiana CEOs:

Regardless of the original intention of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, we are deeply concerned about the impact it is having on our employees and on the reputation of our state. All of our companies seek to promote fair, diverse and inclusive workplaces. Our employees must not feel unwelcome in the place where they work and live.

As we seek to attract and retain great talent from Indiana and around the world, it is critical that we make it clear that Indiana is the welcoming state we all believe it to be. As leaders in the Indiana business community, we call on you to take immediate action to ensure that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act will not sanction or encourage discrimination against any residents or visitors to our state by anyone.

By immediately enacting new legislation that makes it clear that neither the Religious Freedom Restoration Act nor any other Indiana law can be used to justify discrimination based upon sexual orientation or gender identity, our state's elected leaders can provide the reassurance to the people of our state, our nation and the world that is needed at this critical moment.