This is a abbreivated version of this article. Further analysis can be found at www.buyblue.org and www.resistanceusa.com.
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is!
Vol. 1, no. 1
November 24, 2004
Grappling with Groceries
By lapolitichick
How much do you spend every month on groceries? Two hundred dollars? Four hundred? Six? Over the last year, I've spent roughly $3500 on groceries. Just what am I paying for with all that dough? Besides meat and potatoes that is. Well, I did a little investigating and was appalled at what I found. Those purchases have added up to putting money in the war chest of the Republicans in general and George Bush in particular. Still, a girl's gotta eat, right? So what's a Democrat, anti-Bush shopper to do? The answer, shop at liberal supporting stores, seems apparent. But it's not that easy. What stores support who? And how? After a little digging around, I've come up with some answers.
Taking into consideration the activities funded by the organization's PAC, the activities of the top executives and soft money contributions for the 2000, 2002 and 2004 election cycles, it becomes apparent that shopping at the big chain markets isn't in a progressive shoppers best interests.
Based on the analysis below, the best place to spend that cash is Costco, which heavily supports Democratic candidates. Your next best bet is the apolitical Trader Joe's. Stater Bros., a local chain, gives no money to any candidates officially, but their executives support Republicans. Of the big chain stores, I find Ralph's (Kroger) the least offensive, as the company and its executives give the least amount of money to political organizations. However, the money they do give goes predominantly to Republicans. Albertson's is in the middle; while the company supports Democrats through their PAC and soft money, Democrats still only saw 30% of Albertson's total spending, and top executives support Republicans exclusively. The worst in the bunch is Von's (Safeway), simply because of the massive amounts of money they pumped into Republican causes. Over 90% of the $734,230 paid out by their PAC and through soft money went to Republicans. Furtherer more, top executives heavily favor Republicans.
Information for this article was obtained through www.opensecrets.org, www.badcorp.org, www.albertsons.com, www.kroger.com, www.safeway.com, and www.hoovers.com. The author thanks www.ResistanceUSA.com and www.buyblue.org for their support. This article remains the sole property of the author, and may be reprinted with permission. You can contact the author at lapolitichick@yahoo.com.
