Employees at software giant Oracle are demanding that the company’s Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison cancel a fundraiser for President Donald Trump set to take place this week.
Recode reports that following Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison’s decision to host a fundraiser for President Trump this week, employees at the company have demanded that Ellison cancel the event. Breitbart News reported that President Donald Trump is expected to attend a campaign fundraising event at Ellison’s Rancho Mirage estate on Wednesday, just two weeks before California’s Super Tuesday primary. Ellison will be hosting supporters on a golf outing at his home on Porcupine Creek.
Supporters can pay $100,000 can join a golf outing and thave their photo taken with President Trump, for $250,000 they get a photo, golf outing, and can participate in a round-table discussion. All contributions go to a joint fundraising committee formed by the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and state GOP chapters called “Trump Victory.”
One current Oracle employee discussed the fundraiser with Recode stating: “It signals what I and many others have always feared. Culturally, Oracle is the type of place where you’ll work with many lovely people who you share common ideals with, but those ideals have to be left at the door in service of the company.”
Recode spoke with one former and five current employees who stated that tensions were high at the company. 230 people in the company felt strongly enough about the situation to sign a petition addressed to Ellison calling on him to cancel the fundraiser.
The group behind the petition, Oracle Employees for Ethics, stated: “Larry Ellison’s personal implicit endorsement and financial support of Donald Trump not only damages our brand perception and misrepresents the diverse views of our company, but it adversely affects the morale of the individuals and communities who comprise Oracle. We are signing this petition because we want our voices heard and we refuse to be complacent and complicit in Larry Ellison’s support of such a divisive person.”
Not everyone at Oracle is upset by Ellison’s decision, however. One employee told Recode: “I personally love that Ellison is willing to stand up for what he believes in even though it goes against the grain of what most people in the field and employees at his company believe politically.”
However, one person close to Ellison was simply surprised at the decision to host President Trump stating it seemed out of character for Ellison who has been backing Democrats as recently as 2013. In 2015, Ellison hosted Barack Obama at the same golf course that President Trump will visit next week. “He is a huge, huge liberal Democrat,” said the person close to Ellison.
The individual noted that Ellison is a registered Democrat and stated that he was “so proud of the fact that he was one of the few [Fortune 100] CEOs who didn’t put greed before everything.”
“Larry looked down on Republicans of all stripes — especially the conservative evangelical ones,” the individual said. “This Trump stuff makes no sense.”
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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