In Minnesota's tight race for the Senate, Norm Coleman is depending on millions of dollars from CEOs and wealthy business interests to fund his campaign. CEOs of Target, Supervalu, Best Buy, 3M, General Mills, and Pepsi all flooded Coleman's campaign with cash. Meanwhile, his challenger Al Franken maintains a healthy base of support from in and out of the state, without receiving a dime from Minnesota's CEOs.
It looks like the Twin Cities business community wants to give Sen. Norm Coleman a second term, at least if campaign contributions are any indication.
The Republican incumbent has drawn far more financial support from local executives than Democratic challenger Al Franken has, according to campaign finance records. In fact, CEOs from the state's 50 largest public and 50 largest private companies combined to donate more than $100,000 to Coleman and not a penny to Franken [...]
Business political action committees (PACs) also overwhelmingly supported Coleman. These groups gave $2.5 million to Coleman and just $15,000 to Franken.
Why the disparity between CEOs support for this Senate seat? It turns out CEOs are banking on Coleman to protect their veto powers in the workplace, while Franken supports rebuilding the middle class.
The point of contention for CEOs looking to protect themselves in Coleman's second term is the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill supported by Franken and opposed by Coleman that would make it easier for people to form or join unions to fight for better wages & benefits at work. Not only does Coleman have long-standing cozy ties with the CEO contributors, but they're counting on him to keep their pockets fat.
Blois Olson, executive vice president at Bloomington-based Tunheim Partners and former co-publisher of Politics In Minnesota, said Coleman has long-standing relationships with companies like Target dating back to his days as St. Paul mayor, but also noted that the Employee Free Choice Act has become a hot-button issue for big business. [...] "The idea that this would give [unions] a chance, or more of a chance, to unionize employees, is the thing that concerns folks the most," Olson said.
Yes, the reason CEOs are throwing cash at Coleman is because they are afraid that Minnesota's working people would be able to have "more of a chance" to form unions, earn better wages and benefits, and rebuild Minnesota's middle class.
Coleman's CEOs are looking out for their own financial self-interests because they don't want to give ground to working families. Minnesota's economic inequality in these tough financial times should be of particular concern for voters this election.
The choice is clear for CEOs. Minnesota's working families should cast their votes accordingly.
