Target and viewers of The Ellen DeGeneres Show have teamed to give $5 million to schools in need. However, questions still linger about Target's political donations to anti-LGBT candidates in the wake of their donation last year to Minnesota Forward, a pro-business group who had ties to anti-LGBT Minnesota GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer. ( He lost the election to pro-LGBT democrat Mark Dayton. )
In the Human Rights Campaign's ( HRC's ) recently released Corporate Equality Index ( CEI ) for 2012, Target received an 85-percent rating. Fred Sainz, HRC vice-president of communications said, "Target was docked 15 points from last year's CEI because of the political contributions they made to Minnesota Forward.
"When last year's CEI was released we made clear that this product is a measure of workplace equality and that it should not, and will not, factor in political contributions. This year, based on the most stringent criteria in CEI history including transgender-inclusive healthcare coverage Target performed exceptionally well at 85 percent. Target continues to be an exemplary employer for LGBT people and its workplace practices continue to transform workplaces to include other public and private employers as well as affect public attitudes toward issues important to the LGBT community."
Although HRC does not include a company's political contributions in its scoring criteria it should be noted that, according to the Federal Election Commission's ( FEC ) disclosure reports regarding political donations made by Target Citizens Political Action Committee ( PAC ) , Target is still donating to anti-LGBT politicians and PACs.
Political giving in the year 2011 by Target Citizens PAC was split evenly between anti-LGBT and pro-LGBT politicians and PACs. Some of the anti-LGBT politicians who received money from Target Citizen's PAC in 2011 included Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.; Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill.; and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., among others.
Conversely, some of the pro-LGBT politicians who received money from Target Citizen's PAC in 2011 were Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C.; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md.; and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.
Missing from the list of past recipients is current presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. Also, the other Republican candidates for president and President Barack Obama did not receive donations from Target Citizen's PAC in 2011.
According to the FEC report on individual contributions to political committees or politicians, Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel did not donate to Bachmann in 2011 after donating to her previously. He did however, make a donation to anti-LGBT politician Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., in March 2011 but this was the only donation Steinhafel made to a political candidate since 2011 began. Steinhafel's only other political donation in 2011 was to the Retail Industry Leaders Association PAC.
Target spokesperson Molly Snyder said, "Target is proud and excited to have a partnership with Ellen DeGeneres as we all share a tremendous commitment to raising awareness about the importance of education."
When asked about political donations, Snyder said that Target Citizen's PAC is funded through the voluntary efforts of its team members and is very bipartisan. "In the 2009-2010 election cycle, the PAC contributions went 50 percent to Democrats, 48 percent to Republicans and 2 percent to nonpartisan retail trade associations," said Snyder.
When reached for a comment regarding Target and its political donations to anti-gay politicians and candidates in recent years, a representative for Ellen DeGeneres and the Ellen DeGeneres Show did not respond.
