Safeway/Vons/Pavillions, Dem Friendly Markets

[K8-EEE]

Since the SoCA grocery strike I really have been using just Costco and some little indie/ethnic markets...

But I was definitely impressed by this! Safeway corp is a big Dem supporter -- so I'm changing my driving patterns with my kids pick up times to the route where I go by Vons.

http://www.followyourmoney.com/cgi-bin/FYM.cgi?p=find_company&company_id=7457

[Sugarcoated]

1. Good to know,

Post more everybody

[pdx_prog]

2. That's great

I hate Safeway so that figures.....any news on Kroger?

[UdoKier]

6. Yeah - Safeway in the Bay Area sux.

Overpriced and dingy, with a lousy seclection.

I get what I can from the chinese supermarket (MUCH cheaper) and Smart & Final, with an occasional trip to Albertson's.

Cala (Ralph's) is also a bit pricey but I mainly avoid it because the staff at mine is so annoying with their jokes and singing all the time. They never shut up. Besides, Cala is where the fundie republican cashier lady works. Don't care for her.

[JSK]

3. I seriously don't get this

I am in SoCal as well. I have always heard that Von's (Safeway) is a huge Rupuke donor.

Anyone else know anything?

[K8-EEE]

4. Open Secrets Also Lists Them As Major Dem Doner

If you can find conflicting info from another source let me know...but follow your money & open secrets are pretty reliable.

[69KV]

10. Open Secrets has them listed as big Repuke donor

I'm not so sure about the accuracy of the followyourmoney site. I'd like to find out more about who's behind that site and where they are getting their info.

Safeway is listed on Open Secrets as 17% to Dems, 83% to pukes:
http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.asp?Ind=G2400

I have also not set foot in a Safeway or Vons since the UFCW lockout/strike last year. They are a union busting company.

Dem donors are: Costco, Bashas, Brown & Cole.

[City Lights]

8. Safeway CEO is bush ranger.

At least according to this article:

AIG, Citigroup Battle Unions on Political Donation Disclosure

March 8 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission told American International Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Time Warner Inc. in the last month not to ignore demands by labor unions to disclose more information on campaign donations.

Almost two dozen companies asked the SEC for permission to omit from proxy ballots union-drafted resolutions seeking to know how much top executives gave to political candidates. Organized labor, led by the AFL-CIO, which must comply with similar disclosure rules imposed by the administration of President George W. Bush last year, is targeting executives who have contributed to his 2004 re-election campaign.

Companies that received the union resolutions include New York-based AIG, the world's largest insurer, SBC Communications Inc. and Safeway Inc., whose chief executive officers have all been named Bush ``Rangers'' for collecting at least $200,000 for his campaign. Comcast Corp., whose cable unit president, Stephen Burke, 45, was named a ``Ranger'' last month, also faces a resolution.

more... http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=arBbK7iUfgPM&refer=us

Also found this:

Published on Monday, July 14, 2003 by the Washington Post

Bush 'Bundlers' Take Fundraising to New Level

by Thomas B. Edsall and Mike Allen

As chairman, president and chief executive of Safeway Inc., the world's 11th-largest grocery chain, Steven Burd is the nexus of a wide network of subordinates and suppliers, as well as friends in corporate suites. And that is why he will play a critical role in President Bush's effort to raise the largest amount of money ever spent on a presidential campaign -- not by giving a lot of money himself, but by finding a lot of people to give relatively little.

Almost all of the top Bush fundraisers are in the top 1 percent of the nation's incomes, and many are in the top one-tenth of the top 1 percent. Consequently, they are among those who benefit the most from administration legislation reducing the top income tax rate, the capital gains rate and the elimination of taxation on dividend income.

In the jargon of political fundraising, Burd is a bundler.

At two Bush fundraising events in California last month, Burd filled 10 tables with Safeway suppliers, including rice farmers, strawberry growers and a cheese manufacturer, plus representatives of Breyers ice cream, Sunkist produce and Del Monte canned goods who paid $2,000 to hear Bush talk. Each donor wrote a four-digit "solicitor tracking code" assigned to Burd on his check so that the Safeway CEO will receive credit from Bush campaign officials and they can keep a running tally of his efforts. The possible rewards, depending on how much money he can bring in, include cocktails with campaign architect Karl Rove, dinner with Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans and photo opportunities and sessions with the president.

Bush did not invent bundling, an old practice in fundraising designed to give a collection of small donors more bang for their buck by combining their efforts. But the Bush campaign has refined it and made it the central focus of its money strategy because of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law and its goal of reducing the role of mega-donors in political campaigns.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0714-05.htm

[K8-EEE]

11. LORDY!!

Well the open secrets thing is confusing because it's pac money so it's different from the other total which is, contributing to different dem candidates directly...

but the Ranger thing....YIKES!! That is horrible...FORGET IT! THANKS FOR LETTING ME KNOW!

[JRicks_GA]

5. Makers of Kool-Aid a big Republican donor....

/ironic

Kraft Foods (KFT)
http://www.followyourmoney.com/cgi-bin/FYM.cgi?p=find_company&company_id=6361

Products/Brands
Coffee, Postum, General Foods International Coffees, Gevalia, Maxim, Maxwell House, Sanka, Starbucks, Yuban, Kool-Aid Slushies, Country Time, Crystal Light, Kool-Aid, Tang, Capri Sun, Kool-Aid Bursts, 40-30-30 Meal Replacement Drink Mix, Louis Rich, Taco Bell, California Pizza Kitchen, DiGiorno, Jack's, Tombstone, Oscar Mayer, Lunchables, It's Pasta Anytime, Kraft Easy Mac, Velveeta, Boca, Cold Pack Cheese, Woody's, Breakstone's, Knudsen, Light n' Lively, Philadelphia, Temp-tee, Kraft, Athenos, Churny, Cracker Barrel, Handi-Snacks, Harvest Moon, Hoffman's, Polly-O, Kraft Deluxe, Old English, Cheez Whiz, Kraft Deli Deluxe, Kraft Free Singles, Kraft Singles, Kraft 2% Milk Singles, Easy Cheese, Baker's, Calumet, Bull's-Eye, Shake 'n Bake, Oven Fry, Grey Poupon, Sauceworks, Ever Fresh, Certo, Sure-Jell, Minute Rice, Cream of Wheat, Nabisco, Milk-Bone, Dream Whip, D-Zerta, Jell-O, Knox Gelatine, Minute, Cool Whip, Honey Maid, Nilla, Oreo, Balance, Claussen, Post, Alpha-Bits, Banana Nut Crunch, Blueberry Morning, Cinna-Cluster Raisin Bran, Cranberry Almond Crunch, Frosted Shredded Wheat, Fruit & Fibre, Golden Crisp, Grape-Nuts, Great Grains, Honey Bunches of Oats, Honeycomb, Natural Bran Flakes, Oreo O's, Pebbles, Raisin Bran, Shredded Wheat, Shredded Wheat 'n Bran, Spoon Size Shredded Wheat, Toasties, Waffle Crisp, 100% Bran, Good Seasons, Seven Seas, Kraft Mayo, Miracle Whip, A. 1., Stove Top, Kool Stuf, Yogurt, Breyers, Barnum's Animals, Biscos, Café Creme, Cameo, Chips Ahoy!, Dad's, Famous Chocolate Wafers, Family Favorites, Old Fashioned, Ginger Snaps, Lorna Doone, Mallomars, Marshmallow Twirls, National Arrowroot, Newtons, Nutter Butter, Peak Freans, Pecan Passion, Pecanz, Pinwheels, SnackWell's, Social Tea, Stella D'oro, Teddy Grahams, Wild Thornberry's, Air Crisps, Better Cheddars, Cheese Nips, Crown Pilot, Doo Dad, Flavor Crisps, Harvest Crisps, Nabisco Grahams, Nabs, Premium, Ritz Crackers, Royal Lunch, Stoned Wheat Thins, Triscuit, Uneeda, Wheatsworth, Wheat Thins, Zwieback, Comet Cups, Snack Nuts, Corn Nuts, PB Crisps, Planters, Altoids, Callard & Bowser, CremeSavers Hard Candy, CremeSavers Soft Candy, Jet-Puffed, Kraft Caramels, Life Savers, Milka L'il Scoops, Nabisco Fun Fruits, Terry's, Tobler, Toblerone, Trolli, Fig Newtons, Caramel Apple Newtons

[K8-EEE]

7. To Clarify:

Where it says "Taco Bell" or "Starbucks" on this list it refers only to the grocery products, they're a different company although God know there's reason to stay away from both of those anyhow! But just in the interest of clarity, they aren't one in the same.

[AntiCoup2K4]

13. Of course Kraft is a Puke donor. They're owned by a Tobacco company!

Phillip Morris or Altria or Hell Inc. or whatever it is this week. They can change their names as often as they like, it doesn't change the fact that their flagship product is DEATH.

[DenaliDemocrat]

9. I disagree, it's time for tough love

Look,

Only 66% of Union members voted the UNION CANDIDATE!!! These guys do not know what side their bread is buttered on. While it is tempting to shop at Safeway, it's time to NOT shop at Safeway, and tell them that you refuse to pay the higher prices and have less selection to support a union that only supports the union candidate 66%. That is four out of ten people in UNIONS who voted for BUSH!. These are the asses we need to get to wake up. DO NOT SUPPORT THEM AND TELL THEM WHY YOU WILL NOT SUPPORT THEM. Let a few of these guys start losing their nice union jobs, and maybe they will quit voting for Republicans for stupid tax cuts and gay marraige issues.

[Booster]

12. I'm glad to know Pavillions is Dem friendly because it's my

favorite store. I kind of thought they were because when I go in wearing my Kerry t-shirt, they always smile and say they like it. It's a very friendly store and, even though it's a little more expensive, they seem more organized and stocked better than other stores.

[West Coast Democrat]

14. Isn't Trader Joe's Dem friendly?

[Baja Margie]

15. Thanks ,good stuff.

[NoSheep]

16. Anybody know of a list of Dem friendly businesses? n/t

[NoSheep]

17. Duh....sorry! and Thanks!