Campaign cash register: Anti-union Wal-Mart backs anti-union Coleman

Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., recently — and some say falsely — said that the Employee Free Choice Act would "eliminate the secret ballot for workers" in a campaign ad. Simultaneously, Wal-Mart has come under intense scrutiny for encouraging its middle managers to direct workers to vote for Republicans, in part to thwart EFCA. Both Coleman’s and Wal-Mart’s fierce opposition to the pro-union bill should come as no surprise: Wal-Mart is a financial backer of Coleman’s campaign.

For more than a year, Coleman has repeatedly uttered phrases like, "The idea of taking away a secret ballot in a union election, I think it’s absurd," in regard to EFCA. But EFCA does not eliminate or otherwise deny the ability of workers to hold a union election by secret ballot.

The American News Project recently looked into allegations that Wal-Mart is violating rules that prohibit a company from supporting or suggesting that hourly workers vote for a candidate or political party.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. PAC for Responsible Government has given $9,000 to Coleman’s campaign as of June 2008, and it helped elect him in 2002 by contributing $10,000.