MoveOn.org hits Target over gift to Emmer-backing PAC

MoveOn.org, the national progressive advocacy group, is jumping on the Target bandwagon: Like the Human Rights Campaign and others, it’s launched a campaign critical of Target Stores for donating $150,000 to MN Forward, a right-leaning PAC that has purchased advertising favorable to GOP-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer. Like HRC, it cites Minnesota Independent’s reporting on You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, a controversial (and antigay) Christian ministry that Emmer has supported. MoveOn will deliver its message to Target HQ when it gets 150,000 signatures on its petition, which simply reads:

“I won’t shop at Target until it stops spending money on elections. Companies like Target should stay out of elections, period.”

Here’s the text of MoveOn’s email:

Here’s the text of MoveOn’s email:

Dear MoveOn member,

Get this: Target, the retail giant, just became one of the very first companies to take advantage of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision allowing unlimited corporate cash in elections.¹

Target has spent over $150,000 in the Minnesota Governor’s race backing state Rep. Tom Emmer, a far-right Republican who supports Arizona’s draconian immigration law, wants to abolish the minimum wage and even gave money to a fringe group that condoned the execution of gay people. ²

Target must think customers won’t care. They’re wrong: We do care, and we need to let them know that we want Target—and all corporations—out of our elections.

Will you send a message to Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel telling him that you’re not going to shop at Target unless they stop trying to buy elections? Click here to add your name to the petition:

http://pol.moveon.org/state/target/?id=22226-3566785-Xd5Ab3x&t=2

Once we get 150,000 signatures, MoveOn members in Minnesota will hand deliver the petition to Target headquarters.

The stakes are much higher than one candidate and one company. Other CEOs are in “wait-and-see” mode following the Citizens United decision, according to a former Federal Trade Commission counsel quoted on NPR.³ If we don’t push back hard, this will just be the tip of the iceberg. Other corporations will learn that they can pour money into elections to buy the outcome they want—without paying a price with their customers or shareholders.

We all knew Citizens United would benefit candidates who stand up for corporate CEOs instead of everyday people. But you wouldn’t expect a company like Target to jump in and try to buy an election so quickly. After all, Target made its name by being thought of as the more progressive store in the wake of numerous WalMart scandals.

That’s why MoveOn members are following up on actions of groups like Human Rights Campaign and the Alliance for a Better Minnesota by telling Target that we won’t shop there unless they stop trying to buy elections. Please add your voice now:

http://pol.moveon.org/state/target/?id=22226-3566785-Xd5Ab3x&t=3

Thanks for all you do.

–Ilyse, Robin, Anna, Mari, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. “Target Corp. defends Minn. political donation,” Associated Press, July 27, 2010

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89661&id=22226-3566785-Xd5Ab3x&t=4

2. “GOP-linked punk rock ministry says executing gays is ‘moral’,” Minnesota Independent, May 25, 2010

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89716&id=22226-3566785-Xd5Ab3x&t=5

“Emmer Camp On Comment That Waiters Make $100K: ‘It’s An Extreme Example’,” Talking Points Memo, July 13, 2010

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89717&id=22226-3566785-Xd5Ab3x&t=6

3. “Minn. Ad Puts Target At Center Of Campaign Finance Controversy,” NPR, July 27, 2010

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89714&id=22226-3566785-Xd5Ab3x&t=7