Voter Group Banned From Wal-Mart Stores

[Rose Siding]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A voter registration group with Republican ties has been banished from Wal-Mart stores in Tennessee for failing to meet the retailer's standards of nonpartisanship and may soon be shut out of stores in California and Nevada, the retailer's spokesman said Tuesday.

Liberty Consultants wanted to register Wal-Mart shoppers in seven traditionally Republican suburban counties around Nashville. But the request was denied after the company's owner, Gary Thompson, acknowledged to Wal-Mart that he had been hired by Tempe, Ariz.-based Sproul & Associates.

Headed by Nathan Sproul, a former Christian Coalition activist and executive director of the Arizona GOP, Sproul & Associates was paid $7.9 million by the Republican National Committee for consulting and voter registration drives in the 2004 election cycle, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The group set up tables Friday at a Wal-Mart in Gallatin, about 25 miles northeast of Nashville, despite being denied permission earlier in the week. They left only when company officials threatened to call police, Wal-Mart spokesman Dennis Alpert said.
...
"They know this election is close, and they know that Harold Ford is making progress every day," said Tom Lee, senior adviser for communications and policy for the campaign of the Democratic nominee. "That's why they're here."

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-wal-mart-voter-registration,0,2416146.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[patrice]

1. So Wal Mart isn't absolute Evil incarnate?

That's good :applause: .

Though I am wondering about what their record is with other, more definitely non-partisan, voter registration groups.

[lindisfarne]

5. They are absolute evil incarnate - the laws are simply forcing them to

not allow partisan groups in. If they allow one partisan group in, they must allow others.

[johnny_yuma]

9. what laws?

The article says it's a walmart company policy

[lindisfarne]

10. See link below. Walmart has to either allow all partisan groups or

not allow any.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/amdt1efrag4_user.html

[Ragin_mad]

12. Your link disproves your statement

"The First Amendment precludes government restraint of expression and it does not require individuals to turn over their homes, businesses or other property to those wishing to communicate about a particular topic."

"In Marsh v. Alabama,116 the Court held that the private owner of a company town could not forbid distribution of religious materials by a Jehovah’s Witness on a street in the town’s business district. The town, wholly owned by a private corporation, had all the attributes of any American municipality, aside from its ownership, and was functionally like any other town."

"Then, the Court formally overruled Logan Valley Plaza, holding that shopping centers are not functionally equivalent to the company town involved in Marsh.123 Suburban malls may be the“new town squares” in the view of sociologists, but they are private property in the eye of the law."

[maxrandb]

13. Although I dispise the Wal-martification of America

there are a lot of Democrats, hard-working, blue collar, union, and yes! even liberal Americans that shop at Wal-mart. These people are the Democratic Party base. We should be working to unionize Wal-mart, demand they obey labor laws, and reaching out to the people who find it convenient to be able to buy your jeans and a head of lettuce in one place.

Hard working middle class Americans are the Democratic Party. That the Republicans feel they have an advantage by registering Walmart shoppers shows us just how far our country has sunk.

Let 'em register Wal-mart shoppers, and then let Democrats show those shoppers why they need to pull the lever for the Democratic Party!

Middle America ain't stupid. Fear, smear, and Guns, God and Gays just isn't going to work this time around. I think that middle America is starting to wake-up and realize they've been played and manipulated like saps.

[patrice]

21. Moderation in ALL things is suspicious when it comes to politics.

But, so is Extremity!

If we don't acknowledge what IS actually virtue in something, how can we have anything to say about what IS vice?

[Charlie Brown]

2. they set up tables AFTER being denied permission?

What a bunch of belligerent dim-wits. Too bad the managers didn't prosecute. A rare high mark for Wal-Mart.

[barb162]

6. That's pretty bold, isn't it?

[ck4829]

3. This was the same group that tore up Democratic registration forms

in Nevada during the 2004 election.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sproul_and_Associates

[walldude]

4. Not to hijack the thread but I just read a book called

The Store by Bently Little. It's a novel about a Wal-Mart type operation that takes over a small town.
It's pretty freaky and a good quick read.

That said I'm not suprised at WM's actions. While they run their show using the Republican standard of get all you can and screw the other guy in the process they don't want to give up the "Democrat" dollars.

[Scairp]

7. Stunning turn of events

Maybe Wal-Mart is sick of being known as the #1 shopping destination for ignorant rednecks everywhere.

[w4rma]

8. Don't give them credit for obeying the law.

Give them credit if they ever actually accomplish something positive.

[Sherman A1]

11. Well Said

[Fierce]

14. Agree.

This move does nothing to outweigh the crimes Wal-Mart has committed.

[goforit]

15. Trying to impress the long lost libral customers?

[Javaman]

16. So has china-mart purchased it's soul back from the devil? nt

[TexasLawyer]

17. In defense of Wal Mart...

I did a multi-week voter registration drive in and around Houston before the 2004 election. It wasn't for an organized group, just TexasLawyer and her friends and assorted volunteers.

Some stores, notably Target, TOTALLY refused to allow registration on the premises. Even completely non-partisan registration. Target told me that if I even tried to register voters on their property I would be arrested. In fact, they would not allow me to put a little display of official Texas voter registration forms in the Target customer service area. It was deemed "clutter". This is their nationwide policy-- I called their national office about it.

WalMart, on the other hand, could not have been nicer. They welcomed me, set up tables, had employees help me set up, asked how it was going, and I registered most of the people who were working there. I worked out of three WalMart stores in the Houston area. All were as nice as could be.

When these "big box" stores come into a community they replace the town square and other traditional gathering places where, in times past, civic activities like voter registration would occur. I think it is the responsibility of these stores-- now that they have totally changed the civic playing field-- to step up and allow activities like registration drives, blood drives, etc... on their premises.

For all that is bad about WalMart, that company AT LEAST recognizes its place in the community for civic activities.

[NashVegas]

20. I've Been Re-Thinking Wal-Mart Lately

Not so much because of their PR campaigns (I hope), but because of the way they are being targeted by legislation in ways that the Mom & Pops, who've been hurt by their presence, are not. As crappy as Wal-Mart's pay is, the Mom & Pop retailers aren't that much better, many are worse.

If only Wal-Mart would drop the corporate-branded architecture and be more sensitive to local design trends, it'd be easier.

[ACStarsNStripes]

18. Enforcement

Not sure how they can enforce that, unless the make another bulletin board showing the public that if you see these banished people, inform the nearest associate so they can call the police, or something like that.

[samsingh]

19. i would have thought they were dems