Wal-Mart Bans GOP Group From Stores

[kurth]

Wal-Mart Ousts Voter Group Over Partisanship

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. Liberty Consultants tried to have the Tennessee store ban overturned by calling officials at Wal-Mart's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters. "They questioned our decision on their request, stating that our policy allows for nonpartisan voter registration," Alpert said. "But our research indicated they did not fit our definition of nonpartisanship."...

An RNC spokeswoman could not immediately say whether Sproul was working for the Republicans in this election cycle. The Tennessee Republican Party did not immediately return messages... Tennessee is in the middle of a tough campaign to replace Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist - a race that could affect which party controls the U.S. Senate. "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."

The world's largest retailer has been getting more involved in politics in recent years, with the large majority of its donations going to Republican candidates. About 80 percent of the $2.2 million in contributions made by Wal-Mart political action committees and employees in 2004 went to Republicans. So far in the current election cycle, 74 percent of Wal-Mart's $735,605 in individual and PAC contributions has gone to the GOP, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/politics/9721103/detail.html

[Dinger]

1. Call Mal-Wart What Ya Want, But They Ain't Stupid. They See The HW (

handwriting) on the wall. They know what's comin' in November, and they know that if they wait til after the election, it'll be too damn late!


K & R

[slampoet]

2. I guess the GOP will have to....

..canvas the businesses on Main street.

Oh that's right there ain't any left.

[JitterbugPerfume]

3. Wal -Mart---

this is to little , to late

If you live in Indiana or Michigan shop at Meijers . At least they "give back " to the community in Grand Rapids with that beautiful park.

Quality is better and prices are comparable