Remember when Target donated to the Tea party candidate Emmer (through a front group) in Minnesota and folks were upset?
Move On Running "Boycott Target "TV Ad!
A Tea Party At Target? Target Giving $$$ to Candidate Who Wants To Cut Waiters' Minimum Wage
Target promised to stop donating to homophobes. Said they were a gay-friendly company. Well, they appear to have had their fingers crossed. Money for hard core homophobes kept on flowing.
The head of Target Corp. apologized Thursday over a political donation to a business group backing a conservative Republican for Minnesota governor, which angered some employees and sparked talk of a customer boycott.
Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel wrote employees to say the discount retailer was "genuinely sorry" over the way a $150,000 contribution to MN Forward donation played out. Steinhafel said Target would set up a review process for future political donations
Target apologizes for Minn. political donation that angered some workers, sparked boycott talk
The applogy was damage control as Target kept up the same kind of conduct.
HuffPo, quoting the Awl, shows that Target kept it up:
According to documents filed with the FEC in October 2010, Target continued donating to a bevy of anti-gay politicians even after Steinhafel apologized and committed to reforming the review process for future political donations. These donations even included some of the same anti-gay politicians the company had already been criticized for supporting.
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After Steinhafel's August 5 letter, Target's Political Action Committee, helmed by the former right hand of Senator Thune, Matt Zabel, recorded $41,200 in federal election activity. Of that total, $31,200 went to anti-gay rights politicians or PACs supporting those candidates.
Supporters of gay equality did get some money. In September, Target PAC gave $1,000 to Chuck Schumer. It also sent a whole $500 to Keith Ellison, the Minnesota Congressman that anti-gay leader Bradley Dean accuses of supporting LGBT rights as a way to bring Sharia law to America.
But donations such as $1,000 to Kelly Ayotte (reported on September 22), who resigned her state post in protest of the legalization of gay marriage and same sex adoption, are far more the norm.
That same day, there is a record of a donation by Target PAC to Spencer Bachus, who voted to ban same-sex adoption. Michigan's David Camp, who, in addition to supporting a Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage, voted against protecting gays from job discrimination based on sexual orientation, also reported money. Through October, Target PAC thousands of dollars in donations were recorded to Michael Crapo and Dave Reichert, both supporters of anti-gay Constitutional amendments, and Rob Portman, a supporter of banning gays from adopting. Portman's position on other gay rights won't surprise.
Target Continues To Make The Political Donations They Had Previously Apologized For Making, quoting the Awl
The Awl broke the story:
Most surprising though are Target's post-apology donations to John Kline and Erik Paulsen, two vehement anti-gay equality candidates. Part of the July outrage over Target's political giving included these same two candidates.
On September 22, Target PAC recorded a donation to Erik Paulsen. Paulsen, a former Target employee and a favorite of Focus on the Family's James Dobson, recently voted against the Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal. He has also come out against classifying anti-gay attacks as hate crimes. His position on gay marriage is as expected.
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Also on September 22 comes word of a maximum donation—$5,000—to Kline. Kline's voting record is more than the run of the mill "protect marriage" stuff. Kline's gay-hostilities include voting against prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation and against treating anti-gay attacks as hate crimes.
Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel is a hard-core right winger who uses his company to fund Tea Party and homophobic candidates.
When you do your holiday shopping, your Christmas shopping, or just any shopping, remember which side Target is on.