Posted on 07/27/2010 6:13:01 PM PDT by WOBBLY BOB
ST. PAUL, Minn.—Target Corp. on Tuesday defended the use of its new freedom to spend money on political campaigns as employees and gay organizations criticized a $150,000 donation that will help a Minnesota GOP gubernatorial candidate who opposes gay marriage. Chief Executive Officer Gregg Steinhafel assured employees at the company's Minneapolis headquarters in an e-mail that the discount retailer's support of the gay community is "unwavering." He said employees, some gay, raised concerns that the money is helping state Rep. Tom Emmer, a fiery conservative who is his party's likely nominee for governor.
Target's headache illustrates the potential risks for businesses that seek to take advantage of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that threw out parts of a 63-year-old law that prohibited campaign donations from company funds. The ruling changed regulations in about half the states, but the Target donation in Minnesota is among the first major new corporate moves to come to light.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
If they donated $150,000 to NAMBLA the media probably wouldn’t run a story like this.
I sit and watch as public employee unions contribute millions of dollars to the very same politicians who then sit across the negotiating table and sign extremely generous contracts with them. To gay employees of Target, at least you can go work somewhere else. Cry me a freakin’ river.
An article like this from the AP should be counted as a contribution in kind to the Democrats. I mean, wow, they couldn’t find one Republican shopper to talk to!
Target wasn’t even donating to the candidate because of his social views, they just want to stop the administration that is literally killing the private sector! Credit the AP for finding an indirect aspect to put pressure on Target. They also at the same time put the warning out there to other corporations to think twice about supporting Republicans.
From what I understand, the AP is a monopoly. For heavens’ sake, is there any way to hurt them?
Does this mean I can start shopping at Target again? Haven’t been in there much in the last few years.
So why don’t the complaining persons quit in protest? That’ll show Target!!
WELCOME TO FREE REPUBLIC’S MINNESOTA PING LIST!
139 MEMBERS AND GROWING...!
FREEPMAIL ME IF YOU WANT ON OR OFF THIS LIST!
Risk?
They ought to make it the centerpiece of a new marketing campaign.
"Target supports family values, queers and steers can go to K-Mart".
I like what happened here- the Liberals banned campaign donations by unions and corporations. The best thing about it was that the Liberal Party relied almost entirely on corporate donations, while the other two left-wing parties were dependent on union funding. The Conservatives always got nearly all of their money from individuals, so now they have a huge war chest while the opposition parties are nearly bankrupt :-D
Under fire, Target CEO defends political spending, company’s record on gay rights
http://www.twincities.com/ci_15613998?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com
“Target has tried to draw a distinction
between Emmer’s tax policies and his social positions, saying the company supports Emmer for the former, rather than the latter.”
Well, that helps a little. The last time I was in a Target, they were playing the trailer to Humpback Mountain, and the narrator gets on (blaring load) saying something like “it’s a story about life, it’s a story about people, it’s a story about looooove”. I was out of there. Maybe I’ll consider going back now.
“They also at the same time put the warning out there to other corporations to think twice about supporting Republicans.”
That is EXACTLY it.
For MN businesses, this is a no-brainer. All three of the Democratic contenders are leftists of the worst sort, and want to shut down corporate America with controls, taxes, or whatever it takes.
Since the outgoing governor is GOP (Pawlenty), they think they have a good chance at winning, but they are doing to Pawlenty what the liberal media did to GWB - bash, bash, bash, and constantly complainng that Pawlenty did not allow enough spending on the lib’s favorite subjects - mostly the education system. Somehow I think this drawing attention to Emmer’s fiscal conservatism may backfire for the democrats. I hope so.
Amen! That is the reason they supported the Campaign Finance Reform law. It causes Republicans to have to buy, from the enemy, space to get their message out while the Dems get it for free.
They also at the same time put the warning out there to other corporations to think twice about supporting Republicans.
Amen, again! That is part of their playbook.
From what I understand, the AP is a monopoly.
No, there is Reuters. Unfortunately, they are just as bad and sometimes worse. The only free speech left in this country is on talk radio and the internet and the Democrats are trying to eliminate that through regulation.
For heavens’ sake, is there any way to hurt them?
At this stage all we can do is suppress the Left by voting them out of office and letting the MSM die on the vine through lack of interest.
Well, duh. Target and other MN businesses intent on making a profit know that if a DFL governor is paired with DFL majorities in the MN legislature, it's "last business to leave Minnesota, please turn out the lights" time.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.