Target Mixed Business with Politics in Minnesota

Exercising new ability to spend on campaigns, Target finds itself a bull's-eye: "When Target gave money in July to a pro-business group in Minnesota, the company thought it was helping its bottom line by backing candidates in its home state who support lower taxes. Instead, the retailer has found itself in a fight with liberal and gay rights groups that has escalated into calls for a nationwide boycott and protests at the company's headquarters and stores." We have not gotten to the full sense of what the Roberts Court did in opening the gates to unlimited corporate and union political contributions to political campaigns. What will actually change from before to after? If the little story above us is illustrative, the answer may be that corporations like Target will think twice about alienating a segment of their public. Where the customers are, sorry, wrong for what they believe.