At Wal-Mart, Clinton didn't upset any carts (remaining silent as Wal-Mart pursued anti-union strateg

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-hillary19may19,1,2303153.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

As a board member, she touted women and the environment but didn't fight anti-union efforts.
By Stephen Braun, Times Staff Writer
May 19, 2007
BENTONVILLE, ARK. — At a Democratic presidential debate last month, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton described Wal-Mart, the world's largest retail company, as a "mixed blessing." She spoke from experience.

From 1986 to 1992, Clinton was a member of its board of directors, carefully navigating through a spate of internal policy concerns that now weigh on Wal-Mart's corporate image.

Former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. board members and executives recall Clinton as a politically nimble insider who cautiously tried to nudge the company toward hiring more female executives and environmentally friendly practices, to limited effect, while remaining silent as Wal-Mart pursued anti-union strategies.

Four times a year, Clinton would leave Little Rock, driven by Arkansas state troopers and sometimes accompanied by her husband, then-Gov. Bill Clinton, for a three-hour ride to Bentonville, the northwest Arkansas company town that sprouted up around Wal-Mart's headquarters.

While her husband tended to state duties, she joined all-day Wal-Mart board meetings chaired by the firm's billionaire patriarch, Sam Walton, and attended by Walton's family members, directors and top executives.

Crowded with the others around metal folding tables in the kitchen of a converted warehouse — a no-frills board room selected by "Mr. Sam" himself — Clinton assumed the role of loyalist reformer, making the case for measured change without rocking the boat.

FULL story at link.

[bullimiami]

1. sam waltons wal*mart, the walmart of 15-20 years ago

was quite a different operation than it is today.