THE HILL newspaper, a highly respected Washington DC publication, has a story saying a couple of things: Wal-Mart is romancing the Congressional Black Caucus, and is having some success.
Why not? Wal-Mart is the largest employer of African-Americans in the country, according to the story -- and we all know Wal-Mart is desperate to staunch any movement by its employees to demand higher wages and benefits like adequate health insurance.
So K Street invents a plan that lets Wal-Mart polish its image.
Except it's a little bit on the cheap. Voting rights -- ok. But -- uh -- no raises or health insurance. Sorry!
Wal-Mart prods Bush for the CBC
By Elana Schor
Continuing its courtship of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), Wal-Mart is urging President Bush to extend the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In recent months, Wal-Mart has moved toward a lasting alliance with the CBC, deepening the ties by stressing its legislative influence as the nation's largest private employer of African-Americans. Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott's letter, delivered to the White House on Tuesday, is his first follow-up on a productive winter meeting with the CBC.
"I hope that you will stand with me, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, other political and civil rights leaders and countless Americans in supporting an extension of the expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act," Scott wrote to Bush, whose reelection campaign received the maximum contribution from Wal-Mart's political action committee.
The act is universally beloved by the civil-rights community and a point of pride for black lawmakers. It ensures that no disenfranchisement method can be used to prohibit blacks from exercising their right to vote, and its renewal before the 2007 expiration is a crucial priority for the CBC.
The CBC met with Bush to discuss its legislative agenda two weeks before its Feb. 10 meeting with Wal-Mart. While at the White House, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) asked Bush whether he would support extending the act and Bush expressed unfamiliarity with the law, according to an op-ed Jackson's father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, wrote on the meeting.
"[The CBC] formally presented Lee [Scott] with their legislative agenda and asked Wal-Mart to consider endorsing all or part of the agenda," said Kimberly Woodard, a Wal-Mart lobbyist. "This was one of the things we noted right away that we would publicly support."
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Of Wal-Mart PAC's $40,000 given to Democratic candidates for 2006, $12,000 has gone to CBC members.
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Last month's rebuke of the CBC by an official at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) who criticized the caucus for its recent meetings with Wal-Mart remains a sore point between the union and the CBC. But lobbyists and lawmakers alike said the relationship would remain healthy.
"We really hope that both Wal-Mart's friends and foes, particularly organized labor, join with Wal-Mart to support Voting Rights Act extension," Woodard said.
"We're certainly pleased that they're working in support of reauthorization" of the Voting Rights Act, said SEIU spokesman Avril Smith. "We are in the process of collecting 500,000 signatures in favor of reauthorization through Rainbow/PUSH," the Rev. Jackson's organization, by the end of the summer.