Target's Promised 'Review Process' For Political Donations Has A Lot Of Anti-Gay Ground To Cover [UPDATE]

As you may have heard, mega-retailer Target has come under fire recently for contributing to a political action committee called MN Forward, which supports the gubernatorial ambitions of Tom Emmer, a candidate whose hostility toward the LGBT community begins with opposition to same-sex marriage and runs through to wholesale denial of equal rights and alliances with organizations whose takes on the gay community neatly align with those Ugandan madmen.

It took a long while for the Human Rights Campaign -- which had previously bequeathed to Target a pristine 100-percent rating on its Corporate Equality Index -- to get off the mat and take up this matter with the retailer. They've since applied pressure to both Target and Best Buy. For their trouble, they've earned an apology from Target CEO Greg Steinhafel, along with a nebulous promise that Target will institute a "review process for future political donations."

Abe Sauer, who has put a bullseye of his own on this story, returns to The Awl today with as rich an exploration of both new and old angles to this story as you're likely to find anywhere. From Sauer's report, it seems like any "review process" Target institutes for the benefit of maintaining a good relationship with the LGBT community has got a long period of reflecting on past actions to look forward to:

The truth is not that Target and its leadership have suddenly turned on their commitment to gay rights. It's more that it never really existed to begin with. Further research shows that Target has funneled significant funding to the most socially conservative of Republicans and that it boasts a frightening culture of anti-gay candidate support from Target's own stable of top executives.

We have already noted that CEO Gregg Steinhafel and his wife both maxed out their personal contributions this year to Michele Bachmann and Tom Emmer. But Steinhafel is just the captain of the crew.

Target's current group of top corporate officers have supported a murderers row of anti-gay politicians. Even more confusing, some of those anti-gay candidates supported by Target's PAC and its executives don't even represent Minnesota.

That's just a taste, please make with the click to get the full story. Here's an addition worth noting, however:

Al Franken, who is a very staunch supporter of complete gay equality, received zero dollars from Target executives or the Target PAC. Coleman, meanwhile, supported a constitutional amendment against gay equality.

How on earth did they maintain a perfect rating from the HRC?

UPDATE: While Target is reviewing their process for political donations, maybe they'd like to explain this?

From Open Secrets:

Looks like Target was playing both sides of the fence in California's Proposition 8 battle, except they favored the anti-marriage equality side by a wide margin.

And to dovetail back to the HRC Corporate Equality Index, here's what HRC spokesman Michael Cole told Abe Sauer on July 29:

Cole told us, "It's important to understand that the CEI is a measure of the workplace practices of a company toward its own LGBT employees. We don't believe that rating companies based upon their political contributions is an accurate reflection of their commitment to LGBT equality in the workplace." Further, Cole says, "Unless the contribution is to a ballot initiative that is anti-LGBT (such as California's Prop. 8 in 2008), political contributions are not factored into a company's score...."

So it looks like the HRC needs to embark on an internal review of their own, as well.

UPDATE: As has been pointed out to me, yes, the Open Secrets figures here do not necessarily mean anything other than deep-pocketed individual employees of Target are making personal contributions to these ballot initiatives.

So, to be clear, Target employees were playing both sides of the Prop 8 fence. My primary concern in this instance, is with the HRC's Corporate Equality Index, which measures "workplace practices" but eschews any rating based on political contributions save those made "to a ballot initiative that is anti-LGBT (such as California's Prop. 8 in 2008)." In this instance, it's just one more red flag that the HRC should have noted before awarding Target a perfect 100% rating.

RELATED:
Real America: Target Doesn't Support Gay Equality Because It Never Did [The Awl]

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Comments

[Hazlvixen]

02:32 AM on 09/19/2010

Its me, not you....Lets just remember the good times we had. Goodbye Target. (must not look over shoulder)

[firedup49]

05:27 PM on 09/08/2010

I will support Target and do my shopping there. Why complain about their donation, to
republicans. When SEIU and the AFI-CIO stops giving big $$$ to democratic elections. As Obama said at their rally "My agenda is your agenda" there is nothing to say...

[MarkBoston]

12:15 AM on 08/31/2010

I use to shop quite a bit at Target to be honest and Best Buy as well. No More I have several friends who all have several friends and family who also will never set foot in either store. How can anyone knowing where every few cents of your purchase ends up .. being given to people who are trying their best to dehumanize you in every way possible ... NEVER again will a single cent of mine work against me

[Shark62]

09:26 AM on 08/22/2010

I don't know why people are so stupid to contribute to causes that might harm or anger their customers. This is EXACTLY why other countries are getting all the US business because people do not understand business. While nothing is perfect, if you are in the business to sell goods and services to the general public FOCUS on selling goods and services to the general public instead of politics. I would love to know the logic behind this decision. Does management at Target think that by discriminating against liberals it will somehow help their bottom line?

[Nona P]

08:35 PM on 08/13/2010

I remember a similar fuss six or so years ago when it was revealed that Amazon's political contributions to conservative candidates slightly outweighed its contributions to liberal candidates. For some of the liberals I knew that was enough for them to vow to never spend another cent at Amazon.

While this situation is different, to me it still treads perilously close to a mindset where disagreement is not acceptable. The idea that it's theoretically acceptable to threaten someone's livelihood because they support a candidate you don't like is a bit scary.

[GlennInVenice]

12:15 PM on 08/13/2010

With the Supreme Court having green-lighted unlimited political donations from the corporations to "our representatives" (which of course makes them their representatives), it is essential that through events such as this boycott we show corporations that buying power has its consequences. Forget trying to even out the money between conservative and liberal causes, I think our goal should be to scare them away from campaign contributions entirely. My family is DONE with Target and Best Buy.

As an aside, the Supreme Court have made the corporation a "person" with rights. They continue to pander to these VERY WEALTHY "persons" and have allowed them to take over our country. The founding fathers did not see these "people" coming and did not create checks and balances to keep them in place. Forget all this nonsense about immigration, we need to chase these artificial corporate people out of our country if we are going to regain control of the government as for the people and by the people.

No more rich and powerful artificial corporate "people". That is an amendment I think that we could all bet behind.

[lavndrblue]

09:25 AM on 08/13/2010

Best Buy is the same....they didn't contribute as much to the Prop 8 efforts but the did all the same.

[shelleybear]

06:28 AM on 08/13/2010

Wow!
Emmerhoid, Bachmann, MN Forward.
Nope, no more Target and no more Best Buy for me.

[cargofuzz]

02:24 AM on 08/08/2010

This is my second weekend successfully boycotting Target. I refuse to have my consumer dollars go to support the likes of Michele Bachman. Feels good to be more aware of how I spend my dollars. Join me!

[lavndrblue]

09:28 AM on 08/13/2010

Thank you! We are working very hard to elect Tarryl Clark to replace Michele Bachmann. Maybe you could send some of those unspent dollars to Clarks campaign? www.tarrylclark.com

[realitybase]

05:31 PM on 08/07/2010

With the CEO donating to Michelle Bachmann, I'm more likely to never shop at Target again.

[hypnotoad72]

02:03 PM on 08/07/2010

We're walking wallets to big corporations - perceived as having more income because we do not have to raise children (which is biased and stereotype-based thinking, for a number of reasons). Anybody thinking "They really care" is being incredibly naive.

For us, they'll pander to get money.

Behind the scenes... they're just another company, using any venue to get in. I recommend people read up on "The Relationship Era" as it pertains to marketing.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=the+relationship+era

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=the+relationship+era+marketing

[Jivan]

10:09 AM on 08/07/2010

It may just be my particular store, but my Target only sells right wing books in their hardcover "best seller" section. Is that just my store is this the same in stores across the country?

[LeAnn Bradshaw Mueller]

08:23 AM on 08/13/2010

I've noticed that in a number of Targets I've shopped at also. My husband is active duty Army and we were recently stationed in WA, yet it was the same. Now we're in El Paso, TX- no change!

[SionShankel]

12:06 AM on 08/07/2010

Wow, these folks really do not want me to shop there ever again! Good work Target!

[pollie-graff]

03:28 PM on 08/07/2010

Same here, I will never spend money there, ever. And if someone buys me something from Target, I will ask that they take it back and spend their money elsewhere.

[nola87]

11:40 PM on 08/06/2010

....and they just started to build the brand new target at the mall. I guess I'll never see the inside.

[joelb5000]

10:51 PM on 08/06/2010

I will not be a shopper at Target and Best Buy until they make this right with the gay community. It's bad enough that they give more than $150,000 to fund anti-gay political campaigns, but they can't say they're only concern was a business-friendly political environment when Target also gave $3,250 to fund Prop 8! It's sad because I've spent thousands at these stores.

[WhirledTraveler]

12:14 AM on 08/08/2010

Please explain how they can make this right?

[joelb5000]

10:01 PM on 08/09/2010

Well, they have certainly taken enough gay money that they could contribute an equal amount to candidates that are both pro-business AND for marriage equality. And, in the future they could start operating like a real business that values diversity instead of a Political Action Committee. This isn't just about funding pro-business candidates--they've supported extreme conservatives and gave money to the Prop 8 anti-marriage equality initiative (there's nothing business related about that--the only purpose of Prop 8 is to deny equal rights to gays). So, that would be a start.