Thursday, August 12, 2010

NY Pub Adv re Target - yowza

Bill de Blasio: Public Advocate for the City of New York
Hi,
For a retailer that prides itself on being socially responsible, Target is throwing its money behind some troubling political causes. That makes them our first “Outrage of the Week”—our way of shining a light on the worst cases of companies distorting our political process under the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling.

Just last month, we learned that Target donated $150,000 to a group supporting right-wing candidate Tom Emmer for Governor of Minnesota. Emmer is a fierce opponent of same-sex marriage and a big booster of Arizona’s new immigration laws. In the past, he even introduced a law that would result in sex offenders being chemically castrated.

On Tuesday, our office teamed up with MoveOn.org to protest Target’s election spending right in front of the retailer’s flagship store in Brooklyn. We had a simple message: hands off our democracy.
Target is one of the first corporations to spend money on elections following Citizens United ruling, and unless we send them a strong message, it won’t be the last.

Take action to keep companies like Target from tampering with our elections:
We have 84 days until November’s election—now is the time to teach Target a lesson before other companies follow their example.

Stay tuned for our next Outrage of the Week.
Thank you,

Matt Wing
Communications Director
Office of the Public Advocate

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