Abe Sauer over at The Awl has been doing the best reporting on this since earlier in the year when everything blew up over Target’s donations to anti-gay Minnesota candidate [and now, loser] Tom Emmer. Apparently after they apologized, they just went on doing it. My point then, as it is now, remains that corporations, in the wake of Citizens United, can throw around more cash than ever in influencing our political process, and that I doubt Target is even paying attention to anything but their pwecious bottom line when choosing where to donate money. So, our strategy in the coming months needs to be to find a way to look at corporations and say “look, we know you’re not going out and looking for the biggest bigots you can, but could you at least try to pay attention to these issues when selecting candidates that will roll over and die in the face of your corporate agenda?”
Target did confirm that “consistent with past practices” it will be a sponsor for 2011′s Twin Cities Pride. Maybe not so consistent with past practices will be the reception the retailer gets from participants. Twin Cities Pride confirmed discussions with Target as a sponsor, though donation amounts have not yet been discussed. A Pride spokesperson added that the event organizers are “carefully considering the input we’ve received from the community and we’re working with Target to figure out how to best move forward in a way that is mutually beneficial for all parties involved.”
Twin Cities Pride may receive more input following revelations about Target’s political giving after the August 5 letter from Steinhafel.
[...]
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 opposes both 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. On October 4, a donation was reported: $2,000 to David Dreier, whose position on gay rights is quite a bit of theatre.
There is so much more where that came from, so read it all. By the way, you all really should be reading The Awl on a daily basis. It’s one of the best things on this here internet.
What can be said about last night’s election that hasn’t been said about malignant tumors? Okay, let’s look at the good, the bad and the ugly.
Good
Lexington, Kentucky, has an openly gay mayor! His name is Jim Gray, and his election is a nice silver lining for a state which elected an ophthalmologist with a distaste for the Civil Rights Act to represent them in the United States Senate. Also, the new Congressman from RI-1 is Providence’s mayor David Cicilline, who is also openly gay. And perhaps sweetest, Barney Frank beat back his opposition, Sean Bielat, who had inexplicably been endorsed by GOProud, and retained his seat in the House. In all, 106 openly gay candidates were elected around the country last night.
NOM spent a ton of money trying to get rid of the Democratic governor of New Hampshire, John Lynch — they think he is terrible because he signed the marriage equality law there — but voters there gave Lynch an unpredecented fourth term in office.
California has a Democratic governor again in Jerry Brown, and Meg Whitman is $141 million poorer. So that’s funny. Tom Tancredo will decidedly not be the governor of Colorado. Sexist, anti-gay wingnut freak Carl Paladino lost, lost, LOSTin his bid to become governor of New York; that job is for Andrew Cuomo, thanks.
House: Democrat Loretta Sanchez squeaked out a victory in California, thank goodness. New Orleans is back in Democratic hands, though the Republican who lost was probably the most decent guy on that side of the aisle. Marcy Kaptur is still with us in Ohio; her challenger, Rich Iott, who like, dresses up in Nazi garb or something on Saturdays, is filling out job applications today.
Senate: At least we still have the Senate. Carly Fiorina is a loooooser; Barbara Boxer keeps her job. Democrats hold Connecticut, while sending wrestling wingnut Linda McMahon back to find a different job. Christine O’Donnell, of course, will not be the Senator of anything, ever; that job is for Chris Coons. Harry Reid brought it back to defeat Sharron Angle, which has to make wingnuts insane. One of the LGBT community’s staunchest allies, Kirsten Gillibrand, has been elected to a full term in the Senate, and Chuck Schumer’s still with us too. Also, Joe Manchin pulled it out in West Virginia.
Those are the good things from last night. Now…
Bad/Ugly
A majority of Iowans, thanks to the Religious Right, apparently are illiterate when it comes to the role of the judiciary, having ousted three of the Supreme Court judges who granted same-sex couples the long overdue right to marry. The judiciary, of course, is not intended to be run by partisans, but don’t expect anything short of a preschool-level understanding of civics from groups like the National Organization for Marriage and the Family Research Council, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars that could have been spent feeding impoverished children on hurting gay families in the state. Silver lining there, though: if you’ll remember, the Iowa Supreme Court decision was unanimous, which means that seven judges voted for it. Regardless of who gets those jobs, we still have a majority on the court.
Jan Brewer has now been elected as Arizona’s governor. They’re workin’ real hard to make sure everybody knows Arizona as the Alabama of the Southwest, aren’t they? The proposition to legalize marijuana went down in California, continuing California’s pattern of doing really good things and really bad things, all at the same time, when they go to the polls.
Senate: Welcome wingnut senators Marco Rubio in Florida, Mark Kirk in Illinois — we’ll get that seat back easily, by the way — , Dan Coats in Indiana, Rand Paul in Kentucky, Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, and welcome back the biggest yokel in the Senate, Jim DeMint, who somehow pulled out a massive win over his handpicked opponent, Alvin Greene. Sadly, Russ Feingold lost his job, to pave the way for new wingnut Ron Johnson in Wisconsin.
And the House. Oh, the House. Enjoy wingnuts, all y’all who thought voting To Teach Democrats A Lesson was a good idea. Thanks for taking the stalemate in Washington up nine or ten notches. It’s not like government is supposed to do anything, is it? My favorite Congressman, Alan Grayson, lost his job last night, due to the confusion and stupidity of voters in his district. Michele Bachmann won again, proving that district is likely one of the most frightening in the nation when it comes to reading comprehension, etc. Virginia Foxx is also still with us in North Carolina, so that will continue to make for hilarious television.
Just funny: The wingnuts of Oklahoma have overwhelmingly chosen to make English their official language, which means those voters have a LOT of basic grammar to study, and they’ve also chosen to ban Shari‘a law within their borders. So, um. Did not know that was a threat! Also, Tennessee has now enshrined in its Constitution the God-giv’n right to hunt and fish, as if that was somehow threatened.
Anyway. That’s what I find significant from last night’s election. What are you happy/sad/enraged by from last night?
Talk about co-opting the message of a Civil Rights hero…
The following ad is running for Tom Emmer’s campaign in Minnesota. It’s put out by the Minnesota Family Council [sic] and the National Organization for Marriage [also sic], and it shamelessly casts people’s right to “vote against same sex marriage” as a Civil Right.
Disgusting. They believe that Martin Luther King, Jr. would have supported the majority’s right to vote to take away/deny rights from a minority. There are no words for the grotesque, depraved, cynical minds that would use this logic.
It does show us how little respect they really have for the man, though. Wingnuts know that they will never have the moral authority of a man like Martin Luther King, Jr., and they know they’ll never truly be able to tarnish his image in the eyes of history, though they’d like to. So instead, they pretend that their own fights are somehow a continuation of King’s work. Sorry, but King’s closest confidant, namely his wife, stated on numerous occasions that he wouldn’t have supported bigotry or hatred in any form.
In case you need a refresher, here are some of Coretta’s words on gay rights.
I appreciate this recent Target protest for two reasons:
1. They wrote a song and flash mobbed the place. That’s fun for the whole family.
2. They understand that the most important issue with Target’s donation to the anti-gay Tom Emmer is the ability of corporations to be counted as “people” because of the Citizens United decision. The anti-gay part is secondary.
Rachel Maddow reports on the kill-the-homos “minister” Bradlee Dean, who lurks behind Target and Best Buy’s favored Minnesota political leaders, Tom Emmer and Michele Bachmann.
After initially distancing himself and Exodus International, spokesman Randy Thomas gushed over Dean in this interview.
After backing away from his own endorsement of antigay extermination, Dean projects his own predatory behavior toward youths onto gay people. Emmer defends his financial donation to Dean’s hate-the-gays band, saying “These are nice people.”
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.
(…)
“While I firmly believe that a business climate conducive to growth is critical to our future, I realize our decision affected many of you in a way I did not anticipate, and for that I am genuinely sorry,” Steinhafel wrote.
He added, “The diversity of our team is an important aspect of our unique culture and our success as a company, and we did not mean to disappoint you, our team or our valued guests.”
It’s nice to see that Target is willing to learn from its mistakes. This is still an extremely interesting situation from the perspective of the Citizens United ruling, of course, as that was always the larger story. But it seems that they’ve at least learned the lesson that a candidate’s entire record is important, and that a politician’s antipathy to gays is not just an “Oh, by the way.” Republican candidates should pay attention, actually. Corporations give lots of money to the GOP (and the Democrats too), because they tend to roll over and let large corporations do whatever the hell they want when they’re in power. Those politicians know where their daily bread comes from too. The current GOP electoral strategy is to bait the rubes with racist, nativist and anti-gay sentiments, like it’s been since the 1960′s. But large corporations have a stake in being inclusive, and it’s going to become more and more difficult for them to align publicly with politicians with records of bias and bigotry, and more than ever, people are paying attention.
Minnesota Republican candidate for governor Tom Emmer apparently violated campaign finance laws when his campaign donated twice the legal limit to a Christian punk-rock group which teaches public-school students that it’s “moral” to kill homosexuals.
The Minnesota Independent made the disclosure in twostories today.
Like Exodus International, this band — named You Can Run But You Cannot Hide Intl., and led by self-styled minister Bradlee Dean — claims to be bringing the “message of Christ” to youth: In this case, a message of righteous murder. According to the Independent:
“Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America,” Dean said on YCR’ May 15 radio show on AM 1280 the Patriot. “This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination.”
Dean endorses efforts by foreign antigay terrorists to attack the United States if the nation does not voluntarily adopt antigay genocide laws:
“If America won’t enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that,” Dean continued. “That is what you are seeing in America.”
Rep. Tom Emmer has appeared on the kill-the-gays rock band’s talk show, posed for pictures, visited Dean’s home, and attended a non-profit band fund-raiser. Fellow Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann has twice endorsed the murderous band.
Despite protests by the Minnesota Log Cabin Republicans, the state party has become more cozy with the band, not less. Emmer has refused to comment on the band’s appeals for antigay bloodshed. Instead, Emmer’s campaign released a statement to the Independent saying “Tom’ position on social issues has been very clear and consistent. He is a supporter of traditional marriage, and he strongly opposes any kind of violence or unfair discrimination against any group.” Unless, apparently, the violence is politically and musically expedient or the discrimination is “fair.”
As for the tax-free, non-profit group’s partisan political activity, watchdogs said they’ve seen worse.
Abby Levine of the Alliance for Justice wouldn’t comment on the specifics of YCR’ involvement in Republican politics, but did offer general guidelines for nonprofit organizations.
“A 501(c)3 can’t support or oppose a candidate. They can’t indicate support for candidates,” said Levine. “If it looks like an organization is supporting a candidate, that would be problematic.”
She added, “There could be legitimate reasons for a nonprofit organization to attend events like you’ve described.”
Donald Tobin, a professor of election law at Ohio State University’ Moritz College of Law, said, “In light of how blatant some nonprofits have been, this seems like it’ the lesser of the blatant.”
Minnesota Republican candidate for governor Tom Emmer apparently violated campaign finance laws when his campaign donated twice the legal limit to a Christian punk-rock group which teaches public-school students that it’s “moral” to kill homosexuals.
