An Analysis of Walmart & Walton
Family Political Spending
2000-2012
C ONTENTS
Introduc
on ......................................................................................................................................... 1
Walmart and the Walton family spend millions to inﬂuence the democra
c process,
dispropor
onately suppor
ng conserva
ve poli
cians and causes.................................................... 3
The Walton family, while dispropor
onately suppor
ng Republican candidates, has not limited
themselves to moderates within the GOP ........................................................................................... 5
Case study: Steve Womack (R, AR-03) gets tens of thousands from Walmart and the Waltons in one
month ................................................................................................................................................... 6
Ac
ons speak louder than words......................................................................................................... 8
Walmart forces costly special elec
ons, perver
ng the democra
c process and reinforcing its
reputa
on as a drain on local economies ......................................................................................... 15
Case study: The Waltons’ pet cause, undermining public educa
on ............................................... 16
T HIS REPORT WAS PRODUCED BY M AKING C HANGE AT W ALMART .
F OR MORE INFORMATION , VISIT WWW .C HANGE W ALMART . ORG
I NTRODUCTION
Walmart has gone to great lengths in recent years to burnish its reputa
on as a posi
ve, environmentallyfriendly contributor to communi
es across the country and around the world. But for even longer, the
company has been increasing its presence both in Washington, DC, and in local poli
cs na
onwide. The sides it
takes and the poli
cians it contributes to are more telling than any press release or PR stunt.
Just as the total amount of money in poli
cs increases with each passing presiden
al elec
on cycle,1 Walmart
and the Walton family have drama
cally increased their spending compared with a decade or more ago.
Through corporate poli
cal ac
on commi4ee spending, contribu
ons by execu
ves and family members
associated with the company, direct spending by the corpora
on on state-level poli
cs where permi4ed, and
likely many more undisclosed channels, Walmart is a major player seeking to advance an extreme par
san
agenda, typically in ways counter to average Americans’ interests.
Walmart’s political action committee
Like many companies, Walmart has a poli
cal ac
on commi4ee—Wal-Mart Stores Inc. PAC for Responsible
Government—that solicits money from employees and then spends it to advance the company’s poli
cal
objec
ves.
There was a me when company founder and family patriarch Sam Walton said that Walmart had no place in
poli
cs, but those days are clearly over.2 The Walmart PAC has gone from spending virtually nothing in federal
elec
ons in the early nine
es to topping $2 million in three of the last ﬁve federal elec
on cycles.3 Addi
onally,
many states permit direct corporate spending on elec
ons, and Walmart engages in this as well.4
The Walton family and political spending
At the same me, the Walton family, whose members own over half of Walmart common stock and occupy
three seats on the company’s board, use their vast fortune to inﬂuence the poli
cal process at all levels. Heirs
to the founders of Walmart, the Waltons are the richest family in America, with over $115 billion.5 In many
ways, the Walton family is the public face of the company founded by Sam Walton and his brother Bud. Their
wealth is inextricably linked to Walmart’s success, since it comes almost exclusively from their holdings in the
company and their ac
ons—poli
cal or otherwise—are o?en seen as reﬂec
ng on the company itself.
The Waltons are able to wield their fortune in ways ordinary Americans cannot, inﬂuencing our democracy and
contribu
ng to a poli
cal system where the strength of voters’ voices is rela
ve to the size of their wallets, not
the number of ballots cast.6 During the 2012 elec
on cycle, members of the Walton family spent over $1.3
million in federal elec
ons, favoring conserva
ve candidates and causes by a landslide.7 They spent hundreds
of thousands more at the state and local levels, forcing their values—and vision of corporate-style educa
on
reform in par
cular—on communi
es where they do not even reside.8
1. h4p://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/
2. h4p://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/secrets/lobby.html
3. Analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Poli
cs: h4p://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?
strID=C00093054&cycle=2012
4. h4p://www.followthemoney.org/database/topcontributor.phtml?u=2772&y=All&incy=1&ince=1&incs=1&incf=1
5. h4p://www.forbes.com/billionaires/
6. The following Waltons are included in this analysis: Ben Burdi4, Whitney Kroenke Burdi4, Elizabeth Laurie Dubbert, Patrick Bode Dubbert, Ann Kroenke, Josh Kroenke, Stanley Kroenke, Bill Laurie, Nancy Laurie, Melani Lowman-Walton, Carrie
Penner, Greg Penner, Joseph Thomas ProieJ, Annie ProieJ, Alice Walton, Benjamin Sharpe Walton, Carolyn Walton
(through 2000), Christy Walton, Helen Walton, James M. Walton, Jim C. Walton, John Walton, Lucy Walton, Lukas Walton,
Lynne Walton, Rob Walton, Sam Walton, Samuel R. Walton, Steuart Walton, Thomas Walton, Tillie Walton.
7. Analysis of Data from Center for Responsive Poli
cs: opensecrets.org
8. h4p://walmart1percent.org/educa
on/
1
Walmart Lobbyists
On top of direct contribu
ons to elected oﬃcials and candidates, Walmart also employs and contracts with an
army of lobbyists who are charged with advancing the company’s interests in Washington, DC. The company’s
spending in the capital increases with each passing year, and its scores of lobbyists advance Walmart’s interests
on a surprising breadth of issues at dozens of federal agencies.
In 2012, Walmart spent $6,130,000 on federal lobbying. The company employed or contracted with 81
lobbyists, the vast majority of whom have made their way through the “revolving door” between Capitol Hill
and lobbying ﬁrms.9 The company’s top lobbying issues were taxes, labor, homeland security, trade, consumer
product safety, and the food industry.10 While federal law requires that Walmart disclose the issues it lobbies
on and what it spends, unfortunately, Walmart does not have to explain what side it takes. So while it is clear
that Walmart has lobbied on the forma
on of unions, corporate tax reform, port security, and online privacy,
the company’s stance on these issues must be surmised.
Walmart and the Waltons are able to hide much of their political activity
While federal, state, and local regula
ons require the disclosure of much poli
cal spending, there is a
poten
ally vast array of poli
cal spending by both the company and the family that goes unreported.
Walmart belongs to a number of trade associa
ons and other tax-exempt groups that inﬂuence elec
ons and
the poli
cal process. Walmart is not required to and currently does not disclose the amount of its dues and
other payments made to these organiza
ons that are used for poli
cal purposes. Some of the higher proﬁle
organiza
ons of which Walmart is a member include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Retail Industry
Leaders Associa
on, Business Forward, and the Business Roundtable.
Trade associa
ons and nonproﬁt “social welfare” organiza
ons like Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS or Americans
for Prosperity are shrouded in secrecy: they are not required to disclose their donors, and their spending is not
reported to any public agency.11 This is commonly referred to as “dark money.” In a report by Demos and US
PIRG Public Educa
on Fund last June, the authors wrote that “there is moun
ng evidence that nonproﬁts will
again outspend Super PACs in 2012” just as they did in 2010,12 and the public has no way of knowing who is
behind much of the funding.
As Lee Fang recently wrote in The Naon, “the hundreds of millions slushing in secret money is bound to lead
to another major scandal. And that scandal will likely to produce a lot of liability for the corpora
ons
involved.”13
At the state level, Walmart was a long
me member of the controversial American Legisla
ve Exchange Council
(ALEC) un
l May 2012. ALEC is infamous for promo
ng legisla
on that advances a conserva
ve ideological
agenda and beneﬁts its members at the expense of everyone else. The organiza
on developed and promoted
an
-union legisla
on in Wisconsin and Ohio,14 as well as Arizona’s an
-immigrant SB 1070.15 It has also been an
ardent supporter of the priva
za
on of educa
on,16 voter-ID laws17–which distort our democracy by making it
9. h4p://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientlbs.php?id=D000000367&year=2012
10. h4p://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clien
ssues.php?id=D000000367&year=2012
11. h4p://www.demos.org/sites/default/ﬁles/publica
ons/MegaphonesMillionaires-DemosUSPIRG.pdf
12. Ibid.
13. h4p://www.thena
on.com/blog/173590/why-mandate-disclosure-because-corpora
ons-lie-voluntary-poli
caltransparency
14. h4p://www.commoncause.org/aR/cf/%7BT3c17e2-cdd1-4df6-92be-bd4429893665%7D/MONEYPOWERANDALEC.PDF
15. h4p://www.prwatch.org/node/10980
16. h4p://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/14-12
17. h4p://www.propublica.org/ar
cle/everything-youve-ever-wanted-to-know-about-voter-id-laws
2
harder for low-income people and people of color to vote–and is becoming increasingly known for having
developed the “Stand Your Ground” law that became notorious following the death of Trayvon Mar
n.18 Under
intense public pressure, Walmart withdrew from ALEC in May 2012. The Walton Family Founda
on has clear
es to ALEC,19 but has so far refused to sever es with the group.
A note on the Walmart Foundation as “a lever”
While the scope of this report is deliberately limited to poli
cal spending, it should be noted that the way in
which the spending of the tax-exempt Walmart Founda
on is regularly used to advance the interests of the
company has come under increased scru
ny of late. Leslie Dach, Walmart’s Execu
ve Vice President for
Corporate Aﬀairs who recently announced his re
rement, has spoken of the importance of the company’s
philanthropic endeavors to improving Walmart’s reputa
on. He described that reputa
on as “a lever” in
pursuing the company’s goals, which include expanding into urban America.
In February, 2013, The Naon magazine released a 4-page memo20 from the Walmart Founda
on that details
the ways in which support from the founda
on comes with clear expecta
ons about the ways in which
grantees can “honor” Walmart and even suggests that organiza
ons may consider presen
ng awards to the
company and the Founda
on.
In March 2013, President Obama nominated Sylvia Ma4hews Burwell, the president of the Walmart
Founda
on, as director of the federal Oﬃce of Management and Budget.21
W ALMART AND THE W ALTON FAMILY SPEND MILLIONS TO
INFLUENCE THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS,
DISPROPORTIONATELY SUPPORTING CONSERVATIVE
POLITICIANS AND CAUSES
From the 2000 elec
on cycle through the 2012 cycle, the Waltons and the Walmart PAC spent nearly $17
million in federal elec
ons.
18. h4p://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/02/11995/anniversary-trayvon-mar
ns-death-alec-backed-stand-your-groundlaws-remain-books
19. h4p://thinkprogress.org/poli
cs/2011/08/05/288823/alec-exposed-corpora
ons-funding/
20. h4p://www.thena
on.com/sites/default/ﬁles/RECOGNIZING%20THE%20WALMART%20FOUNDATION%20FOR%20ITS%
20GOOD%20WORKS.pdf
21. h4p://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/04/10/path-looks-clear-for-omb-nominee-burwell/
3
Millions
Walmart PAC spending has dramacally increased
$2.5
$2.18
$2.06 $2.04
$2.0
$1.86
$1.72
$1.5
$1.28
$1.0
$0.58
$0.5
$0.01 $0.06
$0.11
$0.18 $0.18
$0.0
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
Source: Analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Polics
Since the 2000 elec
on cycle, more than $11.6 million—69% of Walmart and the Waltons’ contribu
ons—has
gone to Republican candidates and commi4ees.22 Over this me period 83% of the Waltons’ contribu
ons,
including their contribu
ons to Super PACs, went to Republicans.23 As the following analysis shows, the
candidates supported by Walmart and the Walton family also dispropor
onately favored conserva
ve causes
and issues.
Millions
The Waltons overwhelmingly favor Republicans
$1.0
$0.90
$0.80
$0.77
$0.8
$0.62
$0.6
$0.50
$0.40
$0.37
$0.4
$0.33
$0.2
$0.08
$0.04
$0.01
$0.02
$0.07
$0.02
$0.0
2000
2002
2004
Democrats
2006
Republicans
Source: Analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Polics
22. Analysis of Data from the Center for Responsive Poli
cs, opensecrets.org
23. Ibid
4
2008
2010
2012
The Waltons spend big on super PACs
With some of the deepest pockets in America, the Waltons are spending millions to shape our democracy to
serve their own interests. Despite the fear of a landslide of corporate poli
cal contribu
ons following the
Supreme Court’s landmark federal elec
on decisions in 2010, the top ﬁve contributors to super PACs during the
2012 cycle were individuals,24 each of them worth half a billion or more.25
The Waltons gave just shy of $900,000 to super PACs during the 2012 cycle.26 Of that, $400,000 went to
Restore Our Future, the super PAC associated with Mi4 Romney. Alice Walton and Jim Walton each gave the
PAC $200,000.27
As of June 30, 2012 there were 220 ac
ve super PACs, which have raised more than $312 million for the 2012
elec
on. Most of the contribu
ons to super PACs had come from individuals, not corpora
ons. Individuals had
given $230 million to super PACs as of the end of June.28 In fact, there were only 356 donors—including Jim and
Alice Walton—who had given over $100,000 to super PACs.29 Contribu
ons of over $100,000 from individuals
made up 63% of all super PAC contribu
ons.
Only 0.01% of Americans give more than $10,000 to Congressional campaigns in any elec
on cycle.30 Jim,
Lynne, Alice, and Samuel R. Walton each crossed this threshold during the 2012 cycle. When all federal giving is
included, each of those four Waltons contributed well over $100,000 during the 2012 cycle.
T HE W ALTON FAMILY, WHILE DISPROPORTIONATELY
SUPPORTING R EPUBLICAN CANDIDATES, HAS NOT
LIMITED THEMSELVES TO MODERATES WITHIN THE
GOP
In 2012, Jim Walton contributed to the re-elec
on campaign of Loy Mauch,31 an Arkansas state legislator who
has called the Confederate ﬂag a “symbol of Jesus Christ” and acknowledged membership in the “neoconfederate” secessionist group known as League of the South.32 A?er Mauch’s views and Walton’s
contribu
on made headlines, Jim Walton asked that the contribu
on be returned. In his le4er to Mauch,
Walton wrote, “The contribu
on was made because of your support for educa
on reform in Arkansas. Since
making the contribu
on, however, I have learned about some of your views on other issues with which I
disagree.”33
However, Mauch’s views on educa
on are fairly extreme as well. For example, Mauch wrote in a le4er to the
editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gaze4e in 2006, “Public educa
on was forced upon the South during
Reconstruc
on to complete the aim of the radical socialists, which was to destroy Southern conserva
sm.”34
24. h4p://projects.propublica.org/pactrack/#contribu
ons=all
25. h4p://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/04/26/8754/meet-super-donor-all-stars
26. Analysis of Data from the Center for Responsive Poli
cs, opensecrets.org
27. Ibid
28. h4p://www.demos.org/sites/default/ﬁles/publica
ons/MegaphonesMillionaires-DemosUSPIRG.pdf
29. h4p://www.demos.org/sites/default/ﬁles/publica
ons/MegaphonesMillionaires-DemosUSPIRG.pdf
30. h4p://www.theatlan
c.com/poli
cs/archive/2012/07/big-campaign-spending-government-by-the-1/259599/
31. h4p://walmart1percent.org/2012/10/15/jim-walton-backs-loy-mauch/
31. h4p://www.ark
mes.com/arkansas/the-south-shall-rise-again/Content?oid=1380685
31. h4p://www.ark
mes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/10/26/jim-walton-asks-and-gets-return-of-loy-mauchcontribu
on
32. h4p://walmart1percent.org/2012/11/02/does-jim-walton-think-public-schools-are-a-communist-plot/
33. h4p://www.ark
mes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/10/26/jim-walton-asks-and-gets-return-of-loy-mauchcontribu
on
34. h4p://walmart1percent.org/2012/11/02/does-jim-walton-think-public-schools-are-a-communist-plot/
5
Jim Walton and his wife Lynne have also contributed $3,000 to extremist Arkansas State Senator Jason Rapert
(R-Conway) since December 2010, according to ﬁnancial reports ﬁled with the Arkansas Secretary of State.35
Rapert has faced recent public scru
ny for his an
-gay and an
-choice posi
ons – and for using racially-
nged
language to a4ack President Obama at a rally in 2011.36 Rapert invited na
onal cri
cism in early 2013 by
pushing radical an
-choice legisla
on through the Arkansas State Senate.37 Rapert’s bill could eﬀec
vely
outlaw abor
ons a?er six weeks and force women seeking to terminate a pregnancy to submit to a vaginal
probe. Rapert proudly declares himself a birther and a4acks the state Supreme Court for knocking down a ban
on gay adop
ons.38
CASE STUDY: STEVE WOMACK (R, AR-0 3) GETS
TENS OF THOUSANDS FROM W ALMART AND THE
W ALTONS IN ONE MONTH
Before being elected to represent Northwest Arkansas in Congress in 2010, Republican Steve Womack may
have been best known for his virulently an
-immigrant views as mayor of Rogers, AR, home to many Walmart
execu
ves.
During his tenure there, Womack faced a class ac
on lawsuit. According to Newsweek:
"If you're coming to America illegally," [Womack] declared in his campaign, "you don't want to come
to Rogers." A year later the Immigra
on and Naturaliza
on Service had two agents temporarily
housed in the Rogers Police Department. And in March that collabora
on--and the alleged abuses it
generated--prompted the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educa
onal Fund (MALDEF) to ﬁle a
class-ac
on suit against the city and the police for racial proﬁling.39
The Walmart PAC and individuals with close es to the company are important donors to Womack. During the
2012 cycle, he was their top Congressional candidate by a landslide, according to the Center for Responsive
Poli
cs.40
Walmart and the Waltons gave tens of thousands to Womack during the 2012 elecons
Womack for Congress
(Campaign commi4ee)
Razor PAC
(Leadership PAC)
Walmart PAC
$10,000
$10,000
Waltons
$15,000
Walmart execs and AR-based employees
$29,450
$5,000
$54,450
$15,000
Source: Analysis of data from the FEC
35. h4p://www.sos.arkansas.gov/ﬁling_search/index.php/ﬁling/search/new
36. h4p://thecabin.net/news/local/2013-01-31/senate-panel-oks-bill-ban-abor
on-if-fetal-heartbeatdetected#.UQ0kTGexWrA
37. Ibid
38. h4p://www.huﬃngtonpost.com/2011/04/07/arkansas-supreme-court-ban-gay-adop
on_n_846174.html
39. h4p://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2001/06/03/a-town-s-two-faces.html
40. h4p://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/toprecips.php?id=D000000367&type=P&sort=A&cycle=2012
6
Contribu
ons from the Walmart PAC, Walmart employees, and the Walton family yielded $54,450 for
Womack’s campaign during the 2012 cycle. His leadership PAC received another $15,000—27% of its total
receipts—from the Walmart PAC and Walmart employees. The Walmart PAC made the maximum permi4ed
contribu
ons Womack’s campaign, as did each of the three Waltons who contributed. Addi
onally, the
Walmart PAC gave the maximum to his leadership PAC.
Interes
ngly, more than half of all these contribu
ons came in during a very lucra
ve window in June 2011.
Three Waltons gave Womack’s campaign $5,000 each all on the same day that month. Around the same me,
Walmart employees made contribu
ons to his campaign and leadership PAC totaling $20,650. These came from
execu
ves with recognizable names like Doug McMillon, Charles Holley, and Susan Chambers, plus about two
dozen others. The apparent coordina
on of funding to the Womack campaign by the Walmart PAC, highranking Walmart employees, and the Walton family suggests that Bentonville’s poli
cal strategy is pursued in
tandem by all three sources.
June 2011 was the most lucrave month for Womack’s campaign and Walmart
Date
Donor
Total contribuons to
Womack commi)ees
June 10-15, 2011
Walmart PAC
$2,000
June 11-28, 2011
Walmart employees
$20,650
June 28, 2011
Alice, Jim, and Lynne Walton
$15,000
June 2011 Total
$37,650
Source: Analysis of data from the FEC
In July 2012, Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas oﬀered an insight into Walmart’s legisla
ve priori
es not
generally present in the retailer’s federally-mandated but opaque lobbying reports. Speaking to Bloomberg
about a bill that would have allowed states to collect sales tax on online purchases made from out-of-state
merchants, Rep. Womack said, “This is Wal-Mart’s top issue, if not one of their top issues.” Womack, who
wrote the bill, went on to explain, “Wal-Mart is important to me because they are headquartered in my
district.”41
Then, in October 2012, his campaign brought in another $10,500 from Walmart employees and execu
ves.42
Walmart has yet to ﬁnd success with its “top priority,” but Womack hasn’t given up either.43 And his latest run
for Congress oﬀers insight into the ways that the Walmart PAC, company execu
ves, and the Waltons from
me to me act in concert.
41. h4p://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-20/wal-mart-pushes-web-sales-tax-as-washington-clout-grows-retail.html
42. Analysis of Womack campaign ﬁlings with the Federal Elec
on Commission: h4p://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/
cancomsrs/?_12+H0AR03055
43. h4p://www.poli
co.com/story/2013/03/online-sales-tax-might-have-to-stand-on-its-own-88958.html
7
A CTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS
Although Walmart’s public rela
ons machine has worked hard in recent years to make the company more
palatable to more tradi
onally liberal groups in America, a comparison of the company’s PAC and family’s
poli
cal contribu
ons with scorecards compiled on key votes by organiza
ons working to support immigrant
rights, LGBT-rights, and environmental protec
on among other things, makes clear the company’s
dispropor
onate support for poli
cians working to support the status quo. In each of the following areas, the
company’s PAC dispropor
onately favored candidates who are weak on these issues. As the following charts
reveal, the reality of Walmart’s support for conserva
ve poli
cians consistently runs counter to their public
rhetoric around support for progressive policies and ini
a
ves.
Gun control
A number of tragic incidents in 2012 brought gun control and the forces shaping American public policy on the
issue—like the Na
onal Riﬂe Associa
on and the American Legisla
ve Exchange Council—into the spotlight.
But while Walmart’s role as the na
on’s largest seller of guns and ammuni
on has been widely reported, their
role in suppor
ng a pro-gun poli
cal agenda has not been widely understood.
From 2005 through 2012, the Walmart PAC gave nearly $1.7 million to candidates endorsed by the NRA.44 The
Waltons gave another half a million to NRA-endorsed federal poli
cians over that me period, including super
PAC funds. Among candidates with scores from the NRA, 58% of the Walmart PAC’s contribu
ons and 76% of
the Waltons’ contribu
ons went to those endorsed by the pro-gun lobby. And the NRA only endorsed less than
a third of candidates to whom it gave scores.45 In fact, among poli
cians with 2012 grades from the NRA, three
quarters of the Waltons’ 2005-2012 contribu
ons went to candidates with scores between A+ and A. Only 31%
of candidates received such high scores.
The Walmart PAC and Waltons favored NRA-endorsed candidates
100%
24%
42%
50%
76%
58%
0%
Walmart PAC contributions
Candidates endorsed by the NRA
Walton contributions
Candidates not endorsed by the NRA
44. The statements in this paragraph are based on an analysis of contribu
on data from the Center for Responsive Poli
cs,
opensecrets.org, compared to NRA endorsement data, www.nrapvf.org/
45. www.nrapvf.org/
8
Beyond their direct support for NRA-endorsed candidates, Walmart and the Walton family have also helped
support a pro-gun agenda through their par
cipa
on in the right-wing American Legisla
ve Exchange Council.
ALEC, a membership organiza
on made up primarily of companies and conserva
ve state legislators, produces
right-wing model legisla
on that is then introduced in state legislatures na
onwide.46
ALEC’s pro-gun eﬀorts have included opposing bans on semi-automa
c weapons47 and opposing wai
ng
periods for background checks.48 ALEC also helped propagate the notorious “Stand Your Ground” law linked to
the killing of Trayvon Mar
n in Florida last February. The “Stand Your Ground” law, which ini
ally shielded
Mar
n’s shooter from arrest in weeks following the killing, came out of an ALEC working commi4ee co-chaired
by a Walmart execu
ve in 2005.49
Last year, amid intense public pressure, Walmart withdrew from ALEC. However, there is no evidence that the
Walton Family Founda
on has withdrawn from ALEC, despite the fact that civil rights leaders and others have
called on them to do so.
As the country’s biggest seller of ﬁrearms and ammuni
on, Walmart has relied on gun sales to improve its poor
performance. In 2011, Walmart reportedly began stocking more guns to boost its ﬂagging same store sales.50
Following the tragic shoo
ngs in Connec
cut last December, Walmart pulled the type of assault riﬂe used in
the a4ack from its website, but it was s
ll available in about 1,700 stores na
onally.51 The move belied
Walmart and the Walton family’s support of pro-gun poli
cians and the company’s reliance on gun sales.
Environment
Walmart and the Walton family ﬁnance poli
cians who ﬁght ac
on to address the climate crisis, including
funding the campaigns of some of the most powerful climate change deniers in Congress. Between 2005 and
2012, Walmart and the Waltons gave $2.1 million, more than half of their total Congressional campaign
dona
ons, to members of Congress with life
me scores of 30 or less on the League of Conserva
on Voters
scorecard.52
During the 2011-2012 elec
on cycle, 70% of contribu
ons from Walmart and the Walton family went to
lawmakers who voted in favor of the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline compared with only 60% who voted for
it.53 In June 2012, Walmart chair Rob Walton gave $10,000 to a super PAC running ads cri
cizing Rep. Jeﬀ
Flake’s (R-AZ) vote against the pipeline.54
46. h4p://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
47. h4p://alecexposed.org/w/images/0/00/7J11-Resolu
on_on_Semicopy_Exposed.pdf
48. h4p://alecexposed.org/w/images/3/37/7J10-Resolu
on_On_Firearms_Purchase_Wai
ng_Periods_Exposed.pdf
49. h4p://walmart1percent.org/2012/03/27/whats-the-walmart-connec
on-to-the-shoo
ng-of-trayvon-mar
n/
50. h4p://www.thena
on.com/ar
cle/171808/how-walmart-helped-make-newtown-shooters-ar-15-most-popular-assaultweapon-america
51. Ibid
52. h4p://scorecard.lcv.org/sites/scorecard.lcv.org/ﬁles/LCV_Scorecard_2012.pdf
53. Analysis of contribu
on data from the Center of Responsive Poli
cs, opensecrets.org, with vo
ng records from the Congressional record.
54. h4p://walmart1percent.org/2012/07/20/rob-walton-secure-arizona/
9
The Walmart PAC and Waltons funded supporters of the Keystone Pipeline
100%
12%
31%
50%
88%
69%
0%
Walmart PAC contributions
Pipeline supporters
Walton contributions
Pipeline opposition
Marriage equality and LGBT rights
Neither Walmart nor the Waltons have an encouraging track record when it comes to suppor
ng gay rights. As
the country faces a watershed moment for LGBT equality, the Walton family and Walmart con
nue to heavily
back opponents of progress and send clear signals that they are on the wrong side of history.
Hundreds of corpora
ons ﬁled briefs with the Supreme Court in support of same sex marriage in 2013, but
Walmart was not among them. In fact, Walmart ﬁnds itself near the bo4om of the Human Rights Campaign’s
Corporate Equality Index for 2013.55 Among other things, the report notes that Walmart does not oﬀer health,
dental, or vision beneﬁts to same sex partners and the company does not have company-wide organiza
onal
competency programs highligh
ng sexual orienta
on and gender iden
ty.
The Waltons appear to be similarly-minded when it comes to blocking progress. In 2008, Jim Walton gave
$75,000 to the Arkansas Family Council Ac
on Commi4ee, which at the me was suppor
ng a ballot measure
to prevent gay families from adop
ng.56 Walton’s contribu
on amounted to over 55% of all the money the
group raised that cycle.57 The measure passed but has since been struck down by the Arkansas State Supreme
Court (although defended by Walton-backed extremist state representa
ve Jason Rapert).
Meanwhile, every year since 2002, the Walton Family Founda
on has made grants to the Chris
an missionary
group Young Life.58 The group speciﬁcally prohibits gays and lesbians from serving as staﬀ or volunteers with
the organiza
on.59
55. h4p://www.hrc.org/corporate-equality-index/#.UVNgr2dvZ8E
56. h4p://www.followthemoney.org/press/ReportView.phtml?ext=7&r=406
57. Ibid
58. Data from Walton Family Founda
on IRS Form 990, reviewed at Guidestar.org
59. h4p://greaterpuyyl.younglife.org/Documents/Faith%20and%20Conduct%20Policies.pdf
10
So it is perhaps unsurprising that both Walmart and the Waltons tend to favor candidates with abysmal track
records on gay rights. Among members of Congress listed in the Human Rights Campaign’s latest scorecard,60
the overwhelming majority of the Waltons’ campaign contribu
ons from 2005 to 2012 went to those who
either oppose or are silent on gay marriage. Only 6% of their contribu
ons went to members of Congress who
support gay marriage, even though more than half the public and 35% of Congress do.61
The Waltons’ contribuons almost completely exclude pro-marriage equality candidates
100%
6%
23%
50%
94%
77%
0%
Walmart PAC contributions
Supporters of marriage equality
Walton contributions
Opposed to or silent on marriage equality
The Walmart PAC doesn’t fare much be4er. Their contribu
ons don’t stack up well against the Human Rights
Campaign’s overall scorecard or on the issue of gay marriage, in par
cular. The majority of the Walmart PAC’s
contribu
ons went to candidates with scores below 25 out of 100.62 In fact, the PAC gave over $1.5 million
between 2005 and 2012 to candidates with scores of 0 alone. Over the same me period, 77% of the PAC’s
contribu
ons went to those who either oppose or are silent on gay marriage. Combined, only 21% of Walmart
and the Waltons’ contribu
ons over this me period went to proponents of equality.63
Minimum wage
The Waltons, the face of the one percent in America, have made their fortune from Walmart. It’s a fortune built
on the backs of low-paid workers, da
ng back to the company’s founding. When President Kennedy extended
the minimum wage to apply to retail workers, Sam Walton did all he could to avoid paying it, breaking his
company up into a series of smaller companies in an a4empt to exempt them from the law. Ul
mately, a
federal court ruled against Walton and ordered him to pay back his employees what they were owed, plus a
penalty. He paid up, but not stopping there, Sam Walton told his employees that he’d ﬁre anyone who cashed
the check.64
60. h4p://www.hrc.org/ﬁles/assets/resources/112thCongressionalScorecard_2012.pdf
61. Analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Poli
cs and comparison of scorecard data from the Human Rights Campaign, h4p://www.hrc.org/ﬁles/assets/resources/112thCongressionalScorecard_2012.pdf
62. Ibid
63. Ibid
64. h4p://prospect.org/ar
cle/wal-marts-image-0
11
Back then, the minimum wage was $1.15. Since that me, it hasn’t come close to keeping up with inﬂa
on, so
the House recently voted on a measure to increase it to $10.10 and index it to inﬂa
on. It didn’t pass, with 54%
of the House vo
ng against it.65 The Waltons’ recent contribu
ons do provide some insight into how the
Waltons are carrying on the tradi
on of the family patriarch, however. From 2005 to 2012, a staggering 95% of
the Waltons’ poli
cal contribu
ons to House members who voted on the minimum wage increase went to
those who opposed the measure.
The Walmart PAC and Waltons favored House members who voted against raising the minimum wage
100%
5%
41%
50%
95%
59%
0%
Walmart PAC contributions
Walton contributions
House members in favor of minimum wage increase
House members against minimum wage increase
The Walmart PAC also favored opponents of the minimum wage hike. Among House members vo
ng on raising
the minimum wage, three-ﬁ?hs of the Walmart PAC and Waltons’ contribu
ons from 2005 to 2012 went to
those opposing the increase.66
Immigration
One of Walmart’s newest trade associa
ons is Business Forward. The group is made up of a number of major
corpora
ons and has allied itself with the White House, receiving excep
onal access to high-ranking oﬃcials.67
While the group meets with White House representa
ves to discuss immigra
on reform,68 it is important to
note that Walmart’s ac
ons speak louder than any front group’s words.
The company’s track record in the La
no community is abysmal, and the Walmart PAC and Waltons’ poli
cal
contribu
ons dispropor
onately favor an
-immigrant poli
cians. Between 2005 and 2012, 52% of the Walmart
PAC’s poli
cal contribu
ons went to members of Congress with scores of 25 and below on the William C.
Velasquez Ins
tute’s Immigrant Jus
ce Scorecard from 2010 (the most recent available).69 On the other hand,
only 45% of those ranked received such low scores.
65. h4p://www.washington
mes.com/news/2013/mar/15/house-defeats-minimum-wage-increase/
66. Analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Poli
cs and Congressional vo
ng record, h4p://
projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/113/house/1/votes/74/
67. h4p://freebeacon.com/corporate-cash-ﬁnancing-obama-501c4/
68. h4p://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/05/31/people-are-talking-and-people-want-immigra
on-reform
69. h4p://wcvi.org/jus
ce/reportcard/reportcard_home.htm
12
Many elected oﬃcials who received contribu
ons from Walmart PAC and the Waltons also supported E-verify,
immigrant deten
on, militariza
on of the U.S.-Mexico border, and funding local law enforcement agencies to
conduct enforcement of federal immigra
on laws.70
More than half of the Walmart PAC and Waltons’ contribuons went to an-immigrant candidates
100%
48%
42%
50%
52%
58%
0%
Walmart PAC contributions
Candidates with scores 25 and below
Walton contributions
Candidates with scores 26 to 100
Up and down the supply chain, Walmart’s ac
ons tell a similar, an
-La
no and an
-immigrant story, star
ng
with workers directly employed by the company. Walmart’s low wages are not good for anyone, but minori
es
are dispropor
onately represented in low-paying posi
ons. While people of color made up 37% of Walmart’s
US workforce in 2012, only 27% of ﬁrst and mid-level oﬃcials and managers were minori
es.71
Women
Just two years ago, Walmart’s lawyers found themselves before the Supreme Court because of a class ac
on
lawsuit brought against the company by its female employees, who believed they had been discriminated
against. The Supreme Court was tasked with deciding whether or not the women could be considered a class,
not whether or not Walmart had discriminated, but important stories and details of what it’s like to be a
woman working at Walmart emerged along the way. In 2001, a sta
s
cian studied Walmart’s records and
found that found that female Walmart employees at all levels earned less than their male counterparts.72
Women at Walmart earned $5,200 less per year than men, on average. Women who worked in hourly posi
ons
earned $1,100 less than men in the same posi
on. Women in salaried posi
ons earned $14,500 less than men
in the same posi
on. In 2012, women made up 57% of Walmart’s workforce in the U.S., but they held only 42%
of top and mid-level management posi
ons.73
70. Analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Poli
cs and comparison of Immigrant Jus
ce Scorecard h4p://wcvi.org/
jus
ce/reportcard/reportcard_home.htm
71. h4p://corporate.walmart.com/global-responsibility/diversity-inclusion
72. h4p://www.walmartclass.com/sta
cdata/reports/r2.pdf
73. h4p://corporate.walmart.com/global-responsibility/diversity-inclusion
13
The Walmart PAC and Waltons’ poli
cal contribu
ons reﬂect this track record. Among candidates with scores
on the American Associa
on of University Women’s 2012 Congressional scorecard, the majority of the Walmart
PAC and Waltons’ contribu
ons went to those with scores of 25 and below.74 The scorecard factors in a range
of issues including the reauthoriza
on of the Violence against Women Act, the Paycheck Fairness Act, Planned
Parenthood funding, and educa
on.
Candidates with low scores on women’s issues received disproporonately more from
the Walmart PAC and the Waltons
100%
15%
47%
50%
85%
53%
0%
Walmart PAC contributions
Candidates with scores 25 and below
Walton contributions
Candidates with scores 26 to 100
Civil rights
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights evaluated the 112th Congress based on votes including
misguided a4empts to protect voter ID laws, a4acks on worker rights, the Ryan budget, and extending Bushera tax cuts.75 A comparison of this scorecard with the Walmart PAC and Waltons’ contribu
ons from 2005 to
2012 shows that, among candidates with scores, the Walmart PAC and Waltons favored candidates who failed
to protect civil rights. In fact, 85% of the Waltons’ contribu
ons went to candidates with scores of 25 below,
out of 100.
74. Analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Poli
cs and the AAUW Ac
on Fund scorecard for the 112th Congress,
available online: h4p://www.aauwac
on.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/CVR2012.pdf
75. h4p://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/vo
ng-record/leadership-conference-vo
ng-record-112-congress.pdf
14
The Walmart PAC and Waltons favored candidates with low scores on civil rights
100%
15%
48%
50%
85%
52%
0%
Walmart PAC contributions
Candidates with scores 25 and below
Walton contributions
Candidates with scores 26 to 100
The Walton family further undermines Americans’ civil rights through the Walton Family Founda
on’s
con
nued membership in ALEC. Legisla
on supported by the right wing group and its members includes the
recent round of voter suppression laws introduced in 27 states. Supporters of discriminatory voter ID laws
claim they want to reduce voter fraud, but such fraud almost never actually occurs, and never in amounts large
enough to impact the result of elec
ons.76 These laws have a dispropor
onate impact on the poor, the elderly,
and people of color.
WALMART FORCES COSTLY SPECIAL ELECTIONS, PERVERTING THE
DEMOCRATIC PROCESS AND REINFORCING ITS REPUTATION AS A
DRAIN ON LOCAL ECONOMIES
Walmart has undertaken a controversial strategy to expand its footprint in California in the face of increasing
public opposi
on. The company has increasingly been using the ballot ini
a
ve process to threaten costly
special elec
ons and circumvent environmental review.
76. h4p://www.propublica.org/ar
cle/everything-youve-ever-wanted-to-know-about-voter-id-laws
15
The process is simple, as California Watch explains:
The Arkansas-based retailer has hired paid signature gatherers to circulate pe
ons to build new
superstores or repeal local restric
ons on big-box stores. Once 15 percent of eligible voters sign the
pe
ons, state elec
on law puts cash-strapped ci
es in a bind: City councils must either approve the
Wal-Mart-dra?ed measure without changes or put it to a special elec
on.
As local oﬃcials grapple with whether to spend tens of thousands or even millions of taxpayer dollars
on such an elec
on, Wal-Mart urges ci
es to approve the pe
on outright rather than send it to
voters.77
Walmart has honed this tac
c in ci
es and towns across the state, perhaps most notably in San Diego, where it
spent over $2 million paying elec
on lawyers, campaign consultants, and public rela
ons ﬁrms in an eﬀort to
open four new stores and ﬁght big box regula
ons.78 The company gathered the necessary signatures for a
referendum to repeal big box legisla
on in 2011, at a me when no other elec
ons were slated. A special
elec
on would have cost the city $3.4 million. The City Council, forced into a corner, overturned the law
instead. As one City Council member put it, "Let's be clear, this is a dark day for democracy."79
Walmart’s strategy has the added beneﬁt of helping the company avoid lawsuits under the California
Environmental Quality Act, which concerns the environmental and traﬃc impacts of development projects—
the law does not apply to ballot ini
a
ves.
CASE STUDY: THE WALTONS’ PET CAUSE, UNDERMINING PUBLIC
EDUCATION
The Waltons do not shy away from opportuni
es to use their inherited fortune to inﬂuence poli
cs and pursue
right-wing poli
cal goals. The same holds true of their goal to undermine public educa
on. In recent years, the
family has spent more than $1 billion in eﬀorts to “infuse compe
ve pressure into America’s K-12 educa
on
system.”80 81 This is a vast sum despite the fact that it is spent mostly in states where no Walton family
members live or have children in school, that compe
ve market principles don’t apply to educa
on,82 and
that allowing the wealthiest members of our society to dictate public policy ma4ers like educa
on by slinging
around their wealth is profoundly an
-democra
c.
The Waltons are funding the corporate educa
on reform movement in two ways: through the Walton Family
Founda
on and through local-level poli
cal dona
ons.
Since 2005, the family’s tax-exempt founda
on has given more than $1 billion to corporate educa
on reform
causes.83 Walton grantees include:
77. h4p://californiawatch.org/money-and-poli
cs/wal-mart-ramps-ballot-threats-speed-new-stores-13678
78. Ibid
79. h4p://www.huﬃngtonpost.com/al-norman/wal-mart-buys-san-diego_b_818540.html
80. h4p://www.waltonfamilyfounda
on.org/educa
onreform
81. h4p://waltonfamilyfounda
on.org/mediacenter/walton-family-founda
on-invests-$159-million-in-k12-educa
onreform-in-2011
82. h4p://dianeravitch.net/2012/10/11/the-case-against-for-proﬁt-entrepreneurs-in-educa
on/
83. Based on reports of grant funding in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 on the Walton Family Founda
on
website (and archived versions of the website from the Internet Archive, h4p://www.archive.org).
16
•
Myriad voucher and charter school advocacy organiza
ons, including the Milton Friedman Founda
on
for Educa
onal Choice; union-buster Stand for Children;84 and Michelle Rhee’s pro-priva
za
on, prohigh stakes tes
ng organiza
on, Students First.85
•
The Alliance for School Choice, a pro-voucher organiza
on led by Betsy DeVos of Michigan’s notorious
right-wing DeVos family. (Carrie Walton Penner is an ASC board member.)86
•
The Na
onal Right to Work Legal Defense and Educa
on Founda
on.87
Since 2000, members of the Walton family have spent at least $24 million dollars funding poli
cians, poli
cal
ac
on commi4ees, and ballot issues at the state and local level that favor their corporate approach to school
reform.88 At local levels of government, where fundraising totals are smaller than those at the federal level,
Walton largesse can go a very long way toward shaping public policy.
•
2012 charter school ballot iniaves
In November 2012, residents of Washington State voted on I-1240, an ini
a
ve that would essen
ally
permit charter schools in Washington, which currently doesn’t accommodate them, and that included
a fairly aggressive “parent trigger” clause. The signature ﬁling deadline was July 6, 2012; ﬁve days
later, Alice Walton—who lives in Texas, not the Paciﬁc Northwest—gave $600,000 to the pro-charter
school commi4ee.89 By Elec
on Day, she had given a total of $1.7 million and become the cause’s
second largest donor. Similar ini
a
ves had already been rejected by Washington voters three mes
since the ‘90s. In fact, in 2004, John Walton was the biggest contributor to that year’s failed charter
school ini
a
ve, giving over $1 million.90 This year, the measure—nicknamed “the billionaires’
ini
a
ve” because of massive ﬁnancial support from Walton and other colossally wealthy donors like
Bill Gates—passed with 50.69% of the vote.91 Alice Walton contributed another $600,000 in support of
a cons
tu
onal amendment in Georgia allowing the establishment of charter schools.92 The measure
passed.
•
Wisconsin 2010
From 2009-2010, the elec
on cycle that brought Republicans to power in Wisconsin, Alice Walton was
the top individual donor to Wisconsin legislators according to WisconsinWatch.org. Alice and ﬁve
other Waltons were among the top ﬁ?een poli
cal donors in Wisconsin legisla
ve races during that
elec
on cycle.93 The legisla
ve victories they contributed to, combined with the family founda
on’s
mul
-million dollar eﬀorts to fund experiments in school choice in the state, serve as a mul
-pronged
approach to further their conserva
ve agenda.
84. h4p://sea4leduca
on2010.wordpress.com/2011/07/09/stand-for-children-stands-for-the-rich-and-the-powerful/
85. h4p://dianeravitch.net/2013/01/08/michelle-rhees-upside-down-agenda/
86. h4p://www.allianceforschoolchoice.org/leadership
87. IRS Form 990 report from Walton Family Founda
on. Accessed at Guidestar.org
88. This ﬁgure—which includes dona
ons to candidates for school board posi
ons, educa
on PACs, and charter school
ballot ini
a
ves—is likely an underes
mate, as local-level campaign ﬁnance informa
on is more diﬃcult to access and is
held by varying jurisdic
ons. It is based on data obtained from campaign ﬁnance databases in California, Colorado, Florida,
Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachuse4s, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
89. h4p://blogs.sea4le
mes.com/uwelec
oneye/2012/07/26/charter-schools-ini
a
ve-1240-bankrolled-by-techmillionaires/
90. Analysis of data from Washington State Public Disclosure Commission: h4p://www.pdc.wa.gov/MvcQuerySystem/
Commi4eeData/contribu
ons?param=QVBQUlIgIDEwNQ====&year=2004&type=ini
a
ve
91. h4p://vote.wa.gov/results/current/Ini
a
ve-Measure-No-1240-Concerns-crea
on-of-a-public-charter-schoolsystem.html
92. h4p://walmart1percent.org/2012/11/09/elec
on-day-2012-in-review-grading-the-waltons/
93. h4p://www.wisconsinwatch.org/2011/09/18/school-choice-part-1/
17
The Waltons have spent $2.9 million in state-level poli
cs in California over the past two decades, far more
than in any other state. In 2006, Bay Area resident Greg Penner helped oppose an early childhood educa
on
ini
a
ve that would have increased taxes on the wealthy:
•
2006 California early childhood educaon iniave
The Waltons contributed to the defeat of one of the largest early childhood educa
on ini
a
ves in
state history.94 In 2006, Greg Penner, Walmart board member and son-in-law of S. Robson Walton,
contributed $250,000 to “No on 82.” The so-called “Reiner Ini
a
ve” — named a?er its sponsor,
actor and director Rob Reiner—sought to establish a universal preschool system in California for fouryear-olds by placing an addi
onal income tax on individuals making more than $400,000 a year, and
couples making in excess of $800,000.
The Waltons are also a4emp
ng to stack the deck in favor of their preferred candidates in local poli
cal
races—speciﬁcally those for school superintendent and school board, which typically get less a4en
on and
fewer campaign dollars but are cri
cal in seJng educa
on policy. For example:
•
Louisiana: In 2011, Greg Penner and Carrie Walton Penner each gave $5,000 to Kira Orange Jones, a
candidate for the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Educa
on. Orange Jones, the
Teach for America head in New Orleans, is said to have “[run] as the embodiment of post-Katrina
reform eﬀorts in New Orleans”— eﬀorts that have focused on charter schools and school
priva
za
on.95 In October 2012, Penner gave $2,500 to Sarah Newell Usdin, who successfully ran for
the New Orleans school board. Usdin runs a New Orleans-based corporate educa
on reform nonproﬁt. The Walton Family Founda
on gave Usdin’s organiza
on, New Schools for New Orleans, $1.2
million in 2012.96
•
Indiana: In July 2012, Alice Walton gave $200,000 to state superintendent candidate Tony Benne4,
who backs vouchers, charters, teacher merit pay, and high-stakes tes
ng.97 Three months later, Greg
Penner gave $5,000 to a candidate for the Indianapolis school board.98
•
New Jersey: In Fall 2012, Greg Penner gave $8,000 to a poli
cal commi4ee suppor
ng a slate of
candidates for the Perth Amboy, NJ school board.99
The poli
cal ac
vi
es of the Walton family and Walmart frequently intertwine and reinforce each other, even
when it comes to educa
on reform. Last summer, Walmart sponsored a fundraiser concert in Los Angeles
called “Teachers Rock,” which featured performances by well-known bands, appearances by celebri
es, and
scenes from Won’t Back Down.100 The ﬁlm is a highly favorable treatment of “parent-trigger” laws, whose
produc
on was funded by conserva
ve media company Anschutz Film Group.101 Parent-trigger laws are a
controversial educa
on reform tac
c promoted by the notorious right-wing American Legisla
ve Exchange
Council (ALEC)102 and favored by the Walton family.103
94. h4p://walmart1percent.org/ﬁles/2012/02/WW-Poli
cal-Giving_0602.pdf
95. h4p://www.nola.com/poli
cs/index.ssf/2011/11/kira_orange_jones_elected_to_b.html
96. h4p://www.waltonfamilyfounda
on.org/about/2012-grant-report#educa
on
97. h4p://stateimpact.npr.org/indiana/tag/tony-benne4/
98. h4p://www.schoolsma4er.info/2013/03/buying-indianapolis-public-schools.html
99. h4p://nepc.colorado.edu/blog/who-runs-reformy-campaign-money-machine
100. h4p://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120724006523/en/TEACHERS-ROCK-Presented-Walmart-%E2%80%
9CWon%E2%80%99t-Down%E2%80%9D--Special
101. h4p://inthese
mes.com/working/entry/13643/
walmart_anschutz_teachers_rock_wont_back_down_union_parent_trigger_viola_da/
102. h4p://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Bills_Aﬀec
ng_Americans%27_Rights_to_a_Public_Educa
on
103. h4p://www.alternet.org/educa
on/public-schools-billionaire-agendas-threat-parent-revolu
on-campaign-0
18
Public school advocates cri
cized Walmart for backing the “Teachers Rock” event, poin
ng out that even the
event’s name was a cynical choice given that parent-trigger laws prompt mass ﬁrings of school teachers and
staﬀ. Wrote educa
on historian and professor Diane Ravitch: “Strange way to ‘honor’ teachers–by ﬁring them
and giving the school to a non-union private en
ty to manage, which may hire only young teachers willing to
work a 50-60 hour week at low wages. More ‘honors’ like this and there won’t be a teaching profession in
America, just teaching temps.”104
Part of the proceeds from the Walmart-sponsored concert also went to a group with deep Walton connec
ons:
Teach for America. Walmart director and Walton family member Greg Penner is on the na
onal board of
directors.105
104. h4p://dianeravitch.net/2012/07/30/beware-sneaky-reformer-trick-in-l-a/
105. h4p://www.teachforamerica.org/our-organiza
on/boards
19
Unless otherwise noted, federal poli
cal
contribu
ons data in this report were provided by
the Center for Responsive Poli
cs.
UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Walmart employees as individuals or groups in their
dealings with Walmart over labor rights and standards and their eﬀorts to have Walmart publically commit to
adhering to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or
bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representave of Walmart employees.
20