In a scathing email posted publicly on LinkedIn, Oracle senior staff member George Polisner announced his resignation in protest of co-CEO Safra Catz's decision to join the Trump transition team after meeting with the President-elect along with other technology leaders last week.
Catz, an alumnus of Wharton Business school like Mr. Trump, was born in Israel to Jewish parents who emigrated to Massachusetts. She's been an executive at Oracle since 1999 and a board member of the company since 2001. After serving as Co-President and CFO beginning in 2011, she and colleague Mark Hurd were named co-CEOs of the company when Larry Ellison stepped down in 2014, presumably to spend more time with his yachts and private island.
Polisner's letter of resignation, which is addressed to Catz, cites her as saying, before the tech summit, "I plan to tell the President-elect that we are with him and are here to help in any way we can." That was something Polisner could not abide, he writes.
I am not with President-elect Trump and I am not here to help him in any way. In fact — when his policies border on the unconstitutional, the criminal and the morally unjust I am here to oppose him in every possible and legal way.... Therefore I must resign from this once great company.
Polisner writes that he began with Oracle in 1993 and "was proud to work among some of the best software development and operations engineers in the world. I’ve made significant contributions to Oracle along the way in my various roles ranging from consulting, product development, customer advocacy, program management and now in Cloud." The senior staffer's objections to Trump are numerable and shared by many Americans.
Trump stokes fear, hatred and violence toward people of color, Muslims and immigrants. It is well-known that hate crimes are surging as he has provided license for this ignorance-based expression of malice.He disrespects Gold Star military families, women and the disabled.
He seeks to eviscerate environmental protections, the public education system, LGBTQ rights and women’s rights.
According to Business Insider, Polisner is not seeking new employment at this time. "Right now I'm less concerned about income and more concerned about doing something that impacts society in a positive way," he told the publication.
In an effort to magnify the influence of his resignation, Polisner invites fellow Oracle employees to "Join me in saying: Donald Trump is not who America is, and he is not who Oracle Corporation is." On the website of the anti-Trump political action committee "Not Who We Are," Polisner writes that "As a member of the Oracle Corporation community, I invite all members to stand together against the racial, religious and other intolerance that Donald Trump’s policies and rhetoric promotes." So far he has received 100 signatures in solidarity. As one signatory, Christine W., wrote to the page under the "reasons for signing" section, "I am deeply disappointed that my company could in any way support this horrible human being. I'm deeply disappointed in you, Safra."
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