Target (NYSE:TGT) came under fire yesterday after Right Wing Watch reported the big box discount retailer contributed $50,000 this year to the Republican Governors Association. Target in 2010 was forced to apologize for donating $150,000 to a super PAC that was helping to fund the campaign of the extremely anti-gay Tom Emmer, in his failed bid to become the Republican governor of Minnesota.
The Republican Governors Association, as Right Wing Watch reported, has donated $3 million to the campaign of the rabidly anti-gay, anti-women, anti-choice Ken Cuccinelli, who is running for governor of Virginia.
LOOK:Â Target Donates $50,000 To GOP Group That Gave Cuccinelli Campaign $3 Million
Target’s Manager of Communications, Molly Snyder, today told The New Civil Rights Movement in an email conversation that the $50,000 donation is target’s annual membership fee to the Republican Governors Association.
(Target made an equal donation to the Democratic Governors Association.)
When asked, Snyder confirmed that the $50,000 “is an annual membership and yes, the entire amount is a membership fee.” She also deferred to the RGA when asked what the membership fee provides.
Snyder also offered this statement:
Target’s commitment to the LGBT community is long-standing and unwavering.
We also believe strongly in our civic responsibility to engage in a bipartisan manner at the state and federal level in order to learn about public policy priorities and advocate on issues that affect our business, such as efairness legislation. One of the ways we do this is through membership in both the Democratic and Republican Governors Associations, both of which include several hundred other corporate members. When paying for our memberships, we explicitly require that our dues not be used for any individual electoral campaigns or other electioneering efforts. It would therefore be wrong and inaccurate to associate our membership dues with any particular political candidate or campaign.
While the RGA did not respond to an inquiry from The New Civil Rights Movement about their membership fees and benefits, their website notes membership includes “access to exclusive RGA blogs that allow you to read in-depth analyses of innovative policies that Republican Governors are implementing. You will also receive the daily news clips which will keep you up-to-date.”
It’s important to note that Target’s equal payment to the Democratic Governors Association does not “cancel out” or negate the payment to the Republican Governors Association, which works to elect Republican governors.
Republican governors have been working against LGBT civil rights, signing unconstitutional anti-abortion bills into law, and working to restrict the voting rights of those most-likely to vote Democratic, including minority and younger voters.
Currently, New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie is under fire for his 2012 veto of a same-sex marriage bill that passed both chambers of the state legislature.
Texas Governor Rick Perry is waging war on women, signing into law one of the most-restrictive anti-abortion bills in the nation — as have recently North Dakota Republican Governor Jack Dalrymple, Alabama Republican Governor Robert Bentley, Virginia Republican Governor Bob McDonnell, and many others.
North Carolina is currently awaiting a decision by their Republican Governor, Pat McCrory, to sign — or veto as he promised during the election — an expansive anti-abortion bill that passed last night.
The Republican Party platform on marriage states:
The institution of marriage is the foundation of civil society. Its success as an institution will determine our success as a nation. It has been proven by both experience and endless social science studies that traditional marriage is best for children. Children raised in intact married families are more likely to attend college, are physically and emotionally healthier, are less likely to use drugs or alcohol, engage in crime, or get pregnant outside of marriage. The success of marriage directly impacts the economic well-being of individuals. Furthermore, the future of marriage affects freedom. The lack of family formation not only leads to more government costs, but also to more government control over the lives of its citizens in all aspects. We recognize and honor the courageous efforts of those who bear the many burdens of parenting alone, even as we believe that marriage, the union of one man and one woman must be upheld as the national standard, a goal to stand for, encourage, and promote through laws governing marriage. We embrace the principle that all Americans should be treated with respect and dignity.
We reaffirm our support for a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. We applaud the citizens of the majority of States which have enshrined in their constitutions the traditional concept of marriage, and we support the campaigns underway in several other States to do so.
We support the First Amendment right of freedom of association of the Boy Scouts of America and other service organizations whose values are under assault and condemn the State blacklisting of religious groups which decline to arrange adoptions by same-sex couples. We condemn the hate campaigns, threats of violence, and vandalism by proponents of same-sex marriage against advocates of traditional marriage and call for a federal investigation into attempts to deny religious believers their civil rights.
We will enforce and defend in court the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in the Armed Forces as well as in the civilian world.
The Republican Party platform on abortion states:
“We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children. We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion or fund organizations which perform or advocate it and will not fund or subsidize health care which includes abortion coverage. We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life. We oppose the nonconsensual withholding or withdrawal of care or treatment, including food and water, from people with disabilities, including newborns, as well as the elderly and infirm, just as we oppose active and passive euthanasia and assisted suicide.”