As a follow-up our earlier piece about Target and MN Backward MN Forward using the Citizens United decision to fund hard-right Minnesotan Tom Emmer in the governer's race, we have these updates.
1. From Steve Perry at Politics in Minnesota, an item from their most recent subscription newsletter, Politics in Minnesota: The Weekly Report (no link, emphasis mine):
Boom times for MN Forward: The new corporate campaign spending vehicle raised about $460,000 by the July 6 preliminary report deadline. Since then it has more than doubled its receipts, which now total $1.1 million. And according to 24-hour reports filed with the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board (CFPD), $320,000 of that sum has come in since Monday of last week. . . . So far, MN Forward has spent $195,000 on TV ads backing Republican Tom Emmer. . . .The Best Buy info is new. Elsewhere in the report we learn that Emmer seems to be getting a ton of hidden help:
Target blowback: Target Corp. has taken heat from employees and consumers since the public disclosure of its role as a founding funder of MN Forward. But so far the negative publicity hasn't extended any further. Another prominent Minnesota retailer, Best Buy, has drawn little public attention.
Republican Tom Emmer has yet to spend his first dime on TV, yet by mid-July he had been the subject of about $900,000 worth of television spots by third-party groups.2. About the TPM report that MN Backward MN Forward was going to give to Dems as well, I'm not sure this will happen, though Target execs might have done so. A public show of atonement, says my corporate-cynical self; must control appearances — can't lose sales.
3. About "pharmacy conscience" as one of Emmer's "beliefs" — it seems Target has similar corporate views. Here's Wikipedia, sourced from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 11, 2005:
In 2005, Planned Parenthood protested Target policy involving a conscience clause that allows pharmacists to refuse to dispense the emergency contraceptive, Plan B Levonorgestrel, based on religious beliefs, as long as the employee ensures that the prescription is filled by another pharmacist in a timely manner. . . . [C]ritics feel this policy fails to uphold the pharmacist's duty of care.Anti-woman as well. Our thanks to an alert Minnesota reader for the tip.
Bottom line — it seems there are three entwined issues here, all of which are easily acted on:
- Tom Emmer. A real throwback, and the Republican candidate for governor. His defeat is doable, but progressives need to put shoulder to wheel in an off-year election. In 2002, Repub Pawlenty defeated DFL Roger Moe 44%–36%, with former Dem Tim Penny taking 16% as a third-party candidate. In 2006, Pawlenty won again, but by less than 1% in another race with a spoiler third-party candidate.
This time, both DFL primary candidates lead Emmer by 5%. Not a walkaway, but not razor-thin. With effort, he can be beaten.
Target. They're singing their corporate song: "Please love us, Mr and Ms Gay Person, we've always loved you, and that Emmer stuff, well, someone goofed, is all. Please?" Next will come the commercials with real humans pretending to be caring Target faces, along with an MN Forward–induced PR campaign about (gasp) jobs, and the march is on to "forgive" them.
But remember — there's a history here. Anti-woman in 2005, anti-gay today, and implicitly pro–faux-religion (or whatever you call it when well-funded revenge freaks claim to speak for God). Don't let the repair-ads and implied threat of job-loss throw you. Join and support the boycotts.
MN Forward. This case remains a major test of the Citizens United waters, with Target and Best Buy (don't forget them) major early testees; and it's not over. I guarantee that nationally, RW corps are using Minnesota to figure out how to make Citizens United work without triggering a back-lash. My suggestion: lash back, hard and now.
Sorry for the length, but this is both important and not simple, so I wanted to bottom-line it as well as give the data.
GP
