Buyer Beware: How Holiday Shopping Dollars Can Fuel a Corporate Political Spending Spree

December 7, 2011

With the holiday shopping surge off to a roaring start, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio today took to the national airwaves to release a holiday shopping guide tracking the transparency and political spending practices of some of the nation’s largest companies—including many retail giants. The guide, produced by the Coalition for Accountability in Political Spending (CAPS), shines a spotlight on the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling allowing companies to spend money directly in elections, and shows how consumer dollars spent at the mall can end up paying for controversial political ads without shoppers ever knowing. The CAPS 2011 Holiday Shopping Guide identifies companies that clearly disclose how they spend money in politics, and those that obscure their spending from consumers.

The Holiday Shopping Guide challenges consumers to consider where they buy holiday gifts and even how they pay for them. Utilizing two indices of company openness, the Shopping Guide lists some of the nation’s retailers, banks and brand names with opaque political spending practices.

“Few consumers realize that the dollars we spend at the cash register can end up fueling political campaigns. It’s up to each of us to arm ourselves with the facts before spending our hard-earned money this holiday season,” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, founder of CAPS.

“Our guide has some eye-opening information on some of the nation’s biggest retailers. If you’ve got an opinion about the election ads that flood our airwaves in November, it’s worth looking at where your consumer dollars go before making a trip to the mall,” said Kate Coyne-McCoy, Executive Director of the Coalition for Accountability in Political Spending.

The Holiday Shopping Guide, available at http://bit.ly/holiday-shopping, identifies the following companies as lacking in transparency in their political spending practices:

  • MasterCard
  • Amazon.com
  • Wal-Mart
  • CVS Caremark Corp.
  • Costco
  • Lowe’s Companies, Inc.
  • Walgreen Co.
  • Sprint Nextel Corp.
  • Walt Disney Co.
  • NIKE, Inc.
  • Berkshire Hathaway (owner of Fruit of the Loom and Russell Athletic)

The companies presented in the Holiday Shopping Guide were selected based on their rankings in the Baruch Index of Corporate Political Disclosure and CPA-Zicklin Index of Corporate Political Accountability and Disclosure. Both examine the policies of companies in the S&P 100 according to their level of public disclosure and transparency.

About the Coalition for Accountability in Political Spending:

CAPS is the only national bi-partisan coalition of public officials dedicated to curbing the role of corporations in elections. The growing coalition includes members elected to state wide office, city wide office, legislative and county offices, from various regions across the United States. CAPS was founded by New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio in 2010.

Visit the coalition online: www.politicalspending.org