Eight things to know about Walmart’s new image guy

Dan Bartlett, Walmart's new EVP of Corporate Affairs

Walmart announced this week that it has hired former Bush administration official Dan Bartlett to replace Leslie Dach as the company’s top image polisher (officially, EVP of Corporate Affairs).

While some thought Walmart had gone soft by hiring former Democratic operative Dach in 2006, they’ll make no such mistake this time. Here are eight things to get you introduced to the man who will be out there greenwashing and using the Walmart Foundation as a “lever” to help the company achieve its goals.

  1. Bartlett got his start working for Karl Rove’s consulting firm in Texas.
  2. He was quickly picked up by George W. Bush’s Texas gubernatorial campaign in 1993, when he was just 22 years old.
  3. Eventually, Bush wound up in the White House, and so did Bartlett. He started out as deputy assistant to the President and deputy to the counselor to the President in January 2001. By the time Bartlett left in 2007, he had served as White House Communications Director and ultimately as Counselor to the President.
  4. Texas Monthly describes Bartlett’s communications style, which sums up the Bush White House pretty well:

The 52-person communications shop he controlled was famous for its lockdown discipline and airtight message control. Reporters often complained about how stingy it was with information and how stubbornly it clung to the designated message du jour.

  1. After leaving the White House, Bartlett joined PR firm and lobbyist Public Strategies, which later become Hill + Knowlton Strategies US. Before Walmart picked him up, Bartlett was president and CEO of H+K US.
  2. At H+K, Bartlett helped bailed out banks like Goldman Sachs burnish their public images. And Public Strategies once did crisis communications for a natural gas company following an explosion that killed an elderly couple.
  3. H+K are also experienced greenwashers, having helped to keep petrol taxes low on behalf of the American Petroleum Institute and campaigned for deregulation for the American Truckers Association. They list Athabasca Oil Sands Corp as a client too. H+K describes its work to help AOSC keep “a low public profile, enabling AOSC to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals for the $2 billion transaction.”
  4. As expected, the former Bush aide makes political contributions to Republicans. In late 2011, he contributed to the campaign of controversial Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. Abbott is known for threatening to arrest election observers in 2012; telling gun-owning New Yorkers to come to Texas; and, most recently, calling Democrats in Texas a more dangerous threat than North Korea.

Looks like Walmart has found just the man for the job.

ADVISORY: Students, Teachers March From Closing Chicago School to Walmart Site

MEDIA ADVISORY FOR

Tuesday, May 14th 2013

CONTACT

Nick Sifuentes, 310-866-1692, nick@berlinrosen.com

 

Students, Teachers, Education Advocates March From Closing School to Walmart Site

Marchers to Call Out Walton Family for Undermining Chicago Public School System

Majority of Chicago School Closures In Communities of Color, Low-Income Neighborhoods

Chicago, IL – On Tuesday, May 14th, over a hundred students, teachers, community leaders, education advocates and their supporters will march from Overton Elementary School (221 E. 49th St.) to a nearby construction site for a new Walmart store at 4701 S. Cottage Grove Ave. to protest the Walton family’s efforts to undermine Chicago’s public schools.

Marchers will gather at Overton Elementary School and proceed to the Walmart construction site, where they will hold a rally led by the Chicago Teachers’ Union. There, they will call on the Walton family to stop funding efforts to close Chicago’s public schools.

The Walton family, the richest family in America and heirs to the Walmart fortune, have given millions of dollars to initiatives which strip money from public schools, including nearly half a million dollars in support of Chicago Public Schools’ proposed school closures. Meanwhile, in 2012, the family spent $3.8 million—more money than they spent in any other city—opening new charter schools. The vast majority of the schools closing in Chicago serve low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, leaving many of these areas without local schools.

Walmart has eight stores in Chicago and two more under construction. Walmart workers earn low wages and benefits and often lack access to affordable, quality healthcare. Meanwhile, warehouse workers who supply Walmart goods have called on Walmart to require its contractors to guarantee safe workplaces and fair treatment. In addition, the company is notorious for finding ways to finance its operations on the backs of taxpayers; to help build new stores in Chicago, Walmart is leaning on a tax scheme that diverts money to developers and away from schools and other critical services.

WHO: Students, teachers, community leaders, local residents and education advocates

WHAT: March from Overton Elementary School to Walmart construction site in Bronzeville

WHEN: Overton Elementary: 4:00pm, Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

Walmart site: 4:30pm, Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

WHERE: Overton Elementary School, 221 E. 49th St., to a nearby construction site for a new Walmart store at 4701 S. Cottage Grove Ave.

UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart 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 representative of Walmart employees.

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Walmart and Walton Family Funding Sponsor of Arkansas Attacks on Planned Parenthood, Sex Ed Programs

Extremist, anti-woman politicians are at it again in Arkansas.  And, once again, they have the support of Walmart billionaire Jim Walton and, in this case, of Walmart itself.

Last week, the Arkansas State Senate passed bill Senate Bill 818. The bill, aimed at prohibiting all state funds to organizations that provide abortions or refer women to abortion providers, would have the effect of defunding Planned Parenthood and effectively ending a sexual education program currently run in the state’s public high schools.

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Gary Stubblefield, a state legislator from Branch, Arkansas. Rep. Stubblefield has received multiple campaign contributions from Jim Walton and from Walmart directly.

Unfortunately, Jim Walton’s support for Arkansas’ extremists seems to be emerging as a pattern. We’ve written previously about Walton’s support for Jason Rapert and Loy Mauch.

Rapert attracted national attention by pushing radical anti-choice legislation through the Arkansas State Senate. Rapert’s bill could effectively outlaw abortions after six weeks and force women seeking to terminate a pregnancy to submit to a vaginal probe. Rapert proudly declares himself a birther and attacks the state Supreme Court for knocking down a ban on gay adoptions (which Walton also supported).

Meanwhile, Mauch is an Arkansas state legislator who has called the Confederate flag a “symbol of Jesus Christ” and acknowledged membership in the “neo-confederate” secessionist group known as League of the South. In letters written to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (D-G) over the years, and recently posted online by Max Brantley at the Arkansas Blog, Mauch called Abraham Lincoln a war criminal on a par with the Nazis, and also suggested that slavery couldn’t have been so bad because it was not condemned in the Bible. On his campaign’s Facebook page, Mauch calls President Obama a “radical Muslim.” Eventually, under public pressure, Jim Walton wrote Mauch and asked that his contribution be returned.

Walmart and the Walton family often use pro-women rhetoric. Now, both Walton and Walmart are caught funding yet another attack on women’s rights and on basic common sense. It’s time for Jim Walton and Walmart to ask for their money back from Stubblefield and, more importantly, to publicly commit to stop funding extremist politicians who are apparently determined to undermine our rights.

Walmart and the Waltons give overwhelmingly to those on the wrong side of marriage equality

As the country reaches a watershed moment for LGBT equality, the Walton family and Walmart continue to heavily back opponents of progress, according to our analysis of political contributions and a scorecard prepared by the Human Rights Campaign.

This has been a big week for marriage equality. The Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases: one about California’s Prop 8 and the other about the Defense of Marriage Act. Thousands gathered in front of the Supreme Court to show their support for one side or the other, Facebook was filled with red and pink equal signs, and hundreds of corporations even filed briefs in support of same-sex marriage.

Unfortunately, Walmart didn’t file a brief and the company’s track record tells a different story from the overwhelming support for marriage equality seen elsewhere. Walmart found itself near the bottom of the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for 2013. Among other things, the report noted that Walmart does not offer health, dental, or vision benefits to same sex partners and the company does not have company-wide organizational competency programs highlighting sexual orientation and gender identity. The Waltons, meanwhile, have their own track record of supporting anti-gay organizations and causes.

The latest data are no different. Today we compared the Human Rights Campaign’s scorecard for the 112th Congress with the Walmart PAC and Waltons’ political contributions in recent years. The figures are striking. From the 2008 cycle to 2012, the vast majority of the Waltons’ contributions to members of the 112th Congress—93%–went to legislators who oppose or do not expressly support marriage equality.[1] During that same time period, the Walmart PAC spent over $1 million on candidates with scores of 0 from HRC.


[1] This figure reflects contributions to legislators whom HRC did not specifically note as supporters of gay marriage.

Walmart Heir Jim Walton should repudiate extremist Rapert

Here we go again…

Last October, we called out Jim Walton for backing neo-confederate Arkansas State Rep. Loy Mauch. Over the years, Mauch had publicly opined that slavery wasn’t so bad, that Lincoln was a war criminal on a par with the Nazis, and that public education was a Communist plot. We called on Walton to ask Mauch for his money back – and he did (see here).

Now we find that Jim Walton and his wife Lynne have 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.

Rapert is on the hot seat this week for his anti-gay and anti-choice positions – and for using racially-tinged language to attack President Obama at a rally in 2011. Walton is a member of Walmart’s Board of Directors as well as Chairman and CEO of the Walton-owned Arvest Bank. He is the youngest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton.

Rapert invited national scrutiny last week by pushing radical anti-choice legislation through the Arkansas State Senate. Rapert’s bill could effectively outlaw abortions after six weeks and force women seeking to terminate a pregnancy to submit to a vaginal probe.

The Nation posted a 2011 video of Rapert bragging about his extreme positions on a range of issues. As The Nation put it:

Rapert proudly declares himself a birther and attacks the state Supreme Court for knocking down a ban on gay adoptions

But what really got Rapert in trouble was this racially-tinged attack on President Obama, captured in the same video of his speech to a rally of supporters:

I hear you loud and clear, Barack Obama. You don’t represent the country that I grew up with. And your values is not going to save us. We’re going to take this country back for the Lord. We’re going to try to take this country back for conservatism. And we’re not going to allow minorities to run roughshod over what you people believe in!

Need we say it? Jim Walton, it’s time (again) to ask for your money back. 

While Walmart Gun Sales Rise…

Walmart and Walton Family Big Funders of NRA-Endorsed Candidates

A number of tragic incidents in 2012 brought gun control and the forces shaping American public policy on the issue—like the National Rifle Association and the American Legislative Exchange Council—into the spotlight. But while Walmart’s role as the nation’s largest seller of guns and ammunition has been widely reported, their role in supporting a pro-gun political agenda has not been widely understood.

Between the 2010 and 2012 federal election cycles, Walmart’s PAC gave just over $1 million to candidates endorsed by the NRA, based on our analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics and NRA Political Victory Fund grades and endorsements. The Waltons gave another half a million to NRA-endorsed federal politicians over that time period, including super PAC funds. In fact, among politicians with 2012 grades from the NRA, 87% of the Waltons’ 2010-2012 cycle contributions went to candidates with scores between A+ and A-.

Beyond their direct support for NRA-endorsed candidates, Walmart and the Walton family have also helped support a pro-gun agenda through their participation in the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC, a membership organization made up primarily of companies and conservative state legislators, produces right-wing model legislation that is then introduced in state legislatures nationwide.

ALEC’s pro-gun efforts have included opposing bans on semi-automatic weapons and opposing waiting periods for background checks. ALEC also helped propagate the notorious “Stand Your Ground” law linked to the killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida last February. The “Stand Your Ground” law, which initially shielded Martin’s shooter from arrest in weeks following the killing, came out of an ALEC working committee co-chaired by a Walmart executive in 2005.

Last year, amid public pressure, Walmart withdrew from ALEC. The Walton Family Foundation appears to still be a member of ALEC though, despite the fact that civil rights leaders and others have called on them to withdraw from the organization too.

As the country’s biggest seller of firearms and ammunition, Walmart has relied on gun sales to improve its dismal performance. In 2011, Walmart reportedly began stocking more guns to boost its flagging same store sales. Last month, Walmart pulled the type of assault rifle used in the Connecticut shootings from its website in the days following the attack, but it was available in about 1,700 stores nationally. The move belies Walmart and the Walton family’s support of pro-gun politicians and the company’s reliance on gun sales.

While Walmart uses guns to boost its sales and the Waltons make billions off of Walmart, they continue working behind the scenes through political giving and the Walton Family Foundation’s membership in ALEC to undermine public safety.

 

Some figures updated 4//18/13 to reflect additional information on 2012 election contributions.

Top 12 Walmart 1% Moments of 2012

This year, thousands of activists stood up to the Walmart 1% across the country. It was a busy year for the one percent—and for the rest of us. There was the news of alleged bribery and corruption in Mexico, Walmart leaving ALEC under pressure from the public (here’s hoping the Walton Family Foundation follows their lead next year), forced labor at Walmart suppliers, warehouse worker strikes, and a Black Friday to remember when Walmart associates went on strike over the company’s retaliation and attempts to silence those who spoke out for improvements on the job.

Click through to take a look at some of what we accomplished, and come back in the new year, because 2013 is going to be even bigger! [Read more...]

Was Walmart behind a mysterious 2011 investigation into LAANE?

Last spring and summer, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) was the subject of a massive investigation by MB Public Affairs, a right-wing opposition research firm led by Karl Rove operative Mark Bogetich. The firm requested thousands of documents from over 70 elected officials and public agencies in the LA region, costing an estimated $50,000. But the client behind the inquiries and the reason for their interest in LAANE remained a mystery.

Now, on Frying Pan News, LAANE cofounder Madeline Janis speculates about who she thinks was behind the investigation. Her conclusion: Walmart.

Behind the scenes in 2011, Walmart was again preparing an attempt to open several stores in LA. In 2004, the company’s attempt to open a store in Inglewood was squashed by the community when voters rejected a ballot initiative that would have permitted a giant Walmart superstore. Seven years later, the company was back again, hiring a lobbying firm and the soon-to-be-disgraced PR firm, Mercury. Then, in February 2012, Walmart announced plans to open several stores around LA, including a location in Chinatown.

Amid intense community opposition, a coalition of local groups organized a huge march and rally against Walmart this summer. Days before the rally, Walmart spokesperson Steve Restivo took to the Huffington Post to single out LAANE’s work in opposing Walmart.

Ultimately, MB Public Affairs’ investigation vanished into thin air, yielding a big bill and little else, but it’s obvious that Walmart wants into LA and was working to win over decision makers. While acknowledging that the evidence is circumstantial, Madeline Janis concludes,

But, with billboards all over Los Angeles announcing new Walmarts in multiple locations, my money is on Walmart as the culprit behind the mysterious investigation of 2011. And my money is also on LAANE and our partners in Chinatown, along with the brave Walmart workers who recently went on strike, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and numerous churches, small business and community groups throughout the region to hold Walmart accountable to the standard of fairness and responsibility that led to our success in 2004 in Inglewood and L.A.

Election Day 2012 in Review: Grading the Waltons

Members of the Walton family, as we know, are active political donors, using their fortune to back right-wing candidates and causes. This election cycle was no exception.  Now that Election Day 2012 is in the rearview mirror, let’s take a look at some notable results from contests that the Waltons contributed money to. In recognition of the Waltons’ commitment to corporate-style education reform, we will grade their results and then rate how they did overall. (We’re basing these grades on whether their preferred candidates or issues won, regardless of how noxious the candidates or issues are!)

 

check   Benton County alcohol sales: Down in Walmart’s home county, two Walton family members supported—and largely bankrolled—a successful ballot initiative to allow alcohol sales in the county. (Benton County had been dry since 1935.) According to state ethics reports, Steuart and Tom Walton, sons of Walmart director Jim Walton and grandsons of Walmart founder Sam Walton, together contributed $589,000 to the political committee running the effort—89% of the total money raised by the committee. With 47,712 votes in favor of selling alcohol in Benton County, the Walton brothers spent about $12.34 for each yes vote their cause received.  Comments: We’ve got nothing against alcohol, but wow, that’s a lot of money for a county-level election. We wonder what else that money could have been used for.

xIndiana state superintendent’s race: Back in July, Alice Walton sent a $200,000 check to Tony “Not That Tony Bennett” Bennett, who ran for re-election as the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction. Bennett, a Republican, is a corporate education reformer known for his work to create the country’s largest school voucher program. He’s also a supporter of high-stakes testing and merit pay for teachers linked to student test scores. Though Bennett was an incumbent and had a 5-to-1 fundraising advantage, his opponent, teacher Glenda Ritz, scored a surprise upset against him through grassroots organizing among teachers who wanted to see an end to Bennett’s policies. Comments: Citizens were more powerful than money in this race.

checkCharter school amendments: Alice Walton contributed $600,000 in support of a constitutional amendment in Georgia allowing the establishment of charter schools. The measure passed. Across the country in Washington, the result of a charter school initiative is still too close to call. Alice Walton gave $1.7 million in favor of the initiative, which was nicknamed “the billionaires’ initiative” because of massive financial support from Walton and other colossally wealthy donors like Bill Gates. This is the fourth time that a charter school initiative has been on the ballot in Washington; all of the previous initiatives failed including the one in 2004, to which Alice’s late brother, John, gave $1.02 million. Comments: In Georgia; the initiative passed easily. We have yet to see what happens in Washington.

xMontana Senate race: Denny Rehberg and incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester faced off in a hotly contested race for Senate in Montana. Tester’s seat had been targeted by Republicans as one they hoped to turn from blue to red this year, and Rob and Melani Walton each threw $2,500 behind Rehberg, who has a dismal record on employment discrimination and supported Arizona’s controversial immigration law. But around 9 am on Wednesday morning the Associated Press called the race in favor of Senator Tester. Comments: The Democrats still control the Senate, and the Waltons’ money didn’t tip the scales in this race.

xPresidential race: Well, you might have heard by now that Mitt Romney lost (we hear that news has been making the rounds). The Waltons gave Romney and Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney Super PAC, a total of $415,000 this election cycle.[1] Comments: Fortunately for the Waltons, that’s a mere 0.00036% of their family’s estimated $115 billion net worth.

 

On the five races here that have been officially decided, the Waltons’ side came out victorious in just two. Looks like the Waltons are finishing this election cycle with a 40% win rate. Would a grade like that pass muster with the high-stakes testing proponents, or would the Waltons get shut down for failing?


[1] Data from OpenSecrets.org. Alice Walton gave $2,500 to Romney and $200,000 to Restore Our Future, Jim Walton gave $5,000 to Romney and $200,000 to Restore Our Future, Jim’s wife Lynne Walton gave $5,000, and Jim’s son Steuart Walton gave $2,500.

Waltons’ Rogues Gallery

The Waltons have spent $1.3 million on federal political contributions since the start of this election cycle and over $6 million since the 1990 election cycle.

Their preference for Republicans is clear: 80% of that money went to Republican candidates, committees, and super PACs. Looking through some of their top picks reveals a preference for candidates with extreme right-wing views on civil rights, immigration, women’s rights, and more. With the election looming, take a look through our slideshow to see who the Waltons have chosen to fund.

Mitt Romney – $430,000 this cycle

  • Thanks to major contributions to his super PAC, Republican Presidential nominee Romney has been the Waltons’ top candidate this election cycle. His infamous 47 percent video is just one example of what his presidency would look like—and it would be a bonanza for the Waltons.
  • Romney’s tax plan would likely involve raising taxes on the middle class and eliminating the estate tax, which would let the Waltons keep hundreds of millions of dollars in dodged taxes.

 

Denny Rehberg – $5,000 this cycle

  • Congressman Rehberg represents Montana’s at-large district in the House of Representatives and is currently facing Senator John Tester (D) in a race for a Senate seat in Montana.
  • Rehberg voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in 2007, which would have banned employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Worse, he refused to even adopt a non-discrimination policy against LGBT discrimination for employees in his own Congressional office.
  • Rehberg has publicly supported Arizona’s controversial immigration law, SB 1070, going so far as to file an amicus brief opposing efforts to block the law’s implementation.

 

Loy Mauch – Arkansas State Representative – $500 this cycle (later returned)

  • Loy Mauch (R-26) is a one-term Republican state representative from Bismarck, AR.
  • In letters to the editor of the Arkansas-Democrat Gazette over the years, Mauch has, among other things, argued that slavery couldn’t have been so bad because it was never condemned in the Bible and called President Lincoln a war criminal on a par with the Nazis. In 2009, he wrote: “Secession, as articulated by Thomas Jefferson, is the only cure for this country’s destructive addiction to socialism.”[1]
  • Jim Walton contributed $500 to Mauch’s campaign in May 2012. The Walmart 1% called on Walton to repudiate Mauch in an October 15 blog post and Walton responded by promptly asking for his money back.

 

Steve Womack – $24,600 since 2010 cycle

  • Womack represents the Waltons’ hometown, Bentonville, AR, in the House of Representatives.
  • This past July, Womack told reporters that the online sales tax legislation he authored was a priority for Walmart. “This is Wal-Mart’s top issue, if not one of their top issues. Wal-Mart is important to me because they are headquartered in my district.”
  • Womack faced a class action lawsuit during his time as mayor of Rogers, AR. According to Newsweek:

“If you’re coming to America illegally,” he declared in his campaign, “you don’t want to come to Rogers.” A year later the Immigration and Naturalization Service had two agents temporarily housed in the Rogers Police Department. And in March that collaboration–and the alleged abuses it generated–prompted the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) to file a class-action suit against the city and the police for racial profiling.

John Boozman – $79,800 since 2002 cycle

  • Senator Boozman has been in Congress since 2001, when he joined the House in a special election. He has managed to take in more contributions from the Waltons than any other Congressional candidate.
  • Boozman has received across the board abysmal scores for his voting record on issues including civil rights, women’s issues, the environment, immigration, and LGBT issues.
  • Following the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on Arizona’s anti-immigrant SB 1070, Boozman praised the decision to uphold parts of the law saying, “The state of Arizona is taking steps to ensure the safety and well-being of its citizens.”

 

John McCain – $25,800 since 2000 cycle

“My friends, this supposed ‘War on Women’ or the use of similarly outlandish rhetoric by partisan operatives has two purposes, and both are purely political in their purpose and effect: The first is to distract citizens from real issues that really matter and the second is to give talking heads something to sputter about when they appear on cable television. Neither purpose does anything to advance the wellbeing of any American.”

  • The longtime senator from Arizona has found himself on the wrong side of history in recent years. He came out in favor of Arizona’s anti-immigrant SB 1070 just before it passed the Arizona State Senate, in an apparent attempt to win primary votes; led the opposition to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, reportedly saying that it would “probably…harm the battle effectiveness which is so vital to the survival of our young men and women in the military.”

[1] Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 18, 2009 via Lexis Nexis search

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