Target revises political giving policy after flap

FIRST: Bloomberg news: Target Corp. has revised its policy concerning political giving a few months after a controversy over its $150,000 donation to a business group that was backing a conservative Republican candidate for Minnesota governor.


Commentary:

A confession: I love Target. The big-box retailer offers good products at a good value.
But I am not spending my hard-earned money at Target these days. I made this decision to “vote” with my wallet because Target donated $150,000 last year to MN Forward, which threw its support for an anti-gay candidate for Minnesota governor.
I am one of tens of thousands of customers who are unhappy that Target, which has always trumpeted that it was LGBT-friendly, would instead be supporting political action groups that oppose equality for all Americans.
The national brouhaha – and boycotts by customers – has sent a loud message to Target’s headquarters. So the corporate brass has made changes to its political contributions policy and posted the updated policy on its website.
The changes set up a policy committee made up of senior executives, who will decide how Target spends its political contributions.
But is this really a change? Aren’t these very same senior executives the ones who decided where Target spent its money under the old policy? And aren’t these very same senior executives the ones who personally support conservative causes?
A review of Target’s spending in 2010 shows that the corporation overwhelmingly backs conservative causes.
Here is the list of contributions of general corporate funds in the amount of $5,000 or more to support or oppose the election of candidates for office or ballot initiatives. The total corporate political contribution amount for 2010 is $412,250.
California Jobs PAC, $10,000
California Business Properties Association PAC, $6,500
California Democratic Party, $8,000
California Republican Party, $10,000
California Retailers Association Good Government Council, $6,500
Californians for an Open Primary, $5,000
Florida Mainstreet Merchants, $100,000
Illinois Merchants Political Action Committee Team, $10,000
MN Forward, $150,000
New York Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, $5,000
New York Retailers for Effective Government, $5,000
Republican State Leadership Committee (RAGA), $10,000
The only clear contributions to Democrats are to the California Democratic Party ($8,000) and the New York Democratic Senate Campaign Committee ($5,000).
With the new policy in place, Target is now on the clock. We will be watching to see if the corporate executives show their true colors.
Unless change is obvious, my boycott will continue.
KEN WILLIAMS – SDGLN EDITOR IN CHIEF


http://sdgln.com