Baron Dave Romm
Target and Tom Emmer
By Baron Dave Romm
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Target and Tom Emmer
Note: This was originally a response to a LiveJournal post, which became my own LJ entry, which I have slightly altered for Bartcop-E. Eventually, I'll submit it for a Nobel Prize in Chemestry.Minnesota Republicans have selected Tom Emmer to run for Governor. He is a terrible choice, a teabagger in all but name. This is a guy so out of it that he blames out economic woes on waiters who make more than $100,000 a year. MN Progressive Project discusses why this is wrong even in general. The AFL-CIO nails him on specific votes. And that doesn't even count his DWI's and subsequent attempts to weaken DWI laws and cover up his own convictions and here. He seems to be channeling Dan Quayle or Sarah Palin in the "dumb things I say will get headlines but the truth is buried in the back pages" gaffe department.
And Tom Emmer is the person Target gave $150,000 in cash and in-kind goods and services. to via a PAC. He is against everything Target has worked hard to build. For example, Target claims "diversity is a core issue" and supports the MN Pride Parade. However, Tom Emmer really likes an anti-gay rock ministry and has ties to an anti-gay organization and homophobic leader. Target has been on the forefront of this civil rights issue, and Tom Emmer holds the exact opposite of Target's position. Target seems to be pandering to the lowest aspect of the teabaggers.
So I'm not going to shop there, until Target wakes up or until the governor's race is over. (If Emmer wins, I may never see the inside of a Target again.)
But I wanted to give them a chance. This afternoon, I called Target at 612-304-6073. I didn't press any of the options so got an operator who transferred me to a Special Group (I forget exactly what she called it) who transferred me to Joan at Target Guest Relations. We had a nice talk. Mainly, I politely vented and she tried to defend Target's support of "Democrats and Republicans" and pointed to their Company website. Which is not particularly helpful.
I didn't believe her. In 1976, Target Corporation was one of the founders of the 5% Club, which became the Minnesota Keystone Program. Back when liberal Republican and centrist Democrats were in power, Minnesota businesses were recognized when they gave 5% of their pre-tax earnings to the community. After years of Republican and Independence Party "leadership", companies pat themselves on the back for 2%.
Target, or any business, should not support Tom Emmer.
Tom Emmer is divisive and dismissive of anyone who doesn't follow his brand of political correctness: I don't think you can call yourself a freedom-loving American and be a Democrat,". He lies: According to the Economist poll in February, 20% of teabaggers wants to secede from the union. His supposedly "pro-buniness" platform is anything but (see also this archive of Strib column, Do state taxes really make the wealthy walk?). It's the same Pawlenty economics that saw companies flee, jobs disappear, bridges fall down and nurses strike. Tom Emmer needs to take a civics class as well as remedial math.
Target hasn't supported Emmer directly, to my knowledge. But they gave $150,000 to a group called Minnesota Forward, directed by current GOP governor Pawlenty's cheif spokester Brian McChung. As the increasingly right-wing Star Tribune points out, "The group could exert unprecedented influence in the upcoming election. A landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling this year opened the door to a far greater political role for corporations by allowing them to fund advertising blitzes for or against individual candidates."
Meanwhile, the Minnesota Forward web site is empty. You have to go to MN Forward to see what they're doing... which isn't much. Certainly not bipartisan in any sense of the word. It seems the only thing they have done is give money to Emmer, and make a video which was edited to make Emmer look thinner. Why do conservatives lie so much when they're caught so easily? As Jon Steward asks, "Don't these people know we have videotape?" People who vote Republican are gullible and stupid. But I digress.
Minnesota Forward looks like another excuse for the very wealthy to manipulate elections. "Grassroots" Karl Rove group funded almost entirely by billionaires (salon.com, click through the ads, July 23 2010CE). Because of the gullible nature of voters in general and conservatives in particular, this money will talk.
Let me take a step back: Pawlenty himself was a bad governor. He's one of those right-wingers who can't add and subtract, and is damned proud of his failings. Even Pawlenty realizes that his budgets will lead to job losses. And the "unallotment" mentioned in the article: Minnesota Supreme Court rules Pawlenty's unallotments exceeded his authority. The guy is just incompetent in everything except appealing to the weak-minded and the gullible. There, he's an expert. This is why he's running around to New Hampshire and Iowa.
I'm not a member of either political party, but I do have a sense of history. I can add and subtract, and I tend to listen to people who have been right in the past and ignore people who have been wrong. I'm extra-snarky to people who have been horribly, horribly wrong and don't have the guts to admit it. It's been a long time since there was a Repblican worth voting for. I'm fortunate that my representative, Keith Ellison, and one of my senators, Al Franken, makes me proud. I'm don't have a firm choice in the race for MN Governor this year, though I'm leaning Kelliher, but will almost certainly be voting Democratic. And I will vote with my wallet, too.
To summarize: Tom Emmer = Bad.
Target = Dumb business for supporting a bad candidate.
Shopping = somewhere else.
Addendum: Many people have weighed in over the issue. Those who aren't boycotting Target are shrugging it off: All corporations are evil, so why pick on this one? My response: Target has been doing good deeds, such as supporting GLBT issues, being a sponsor of the Pride Parade, contributing to schools, and in general being a good neighbor. If they're being responsible to turn a profit, fine. I wish to encourage positive activities. If some people are encouraged to shop at Target because they're turning their back on their previous good deeds, then its especially important to balance that out with our lack of commerce.
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