EDITORIAL: Voter (and Customer) Beware

EDITORIAL: Voter (and Customer) Beware
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: August 18, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/opinion/19thu4.html?ref=opinion


The Target Corporation has a well-earned reputation for hiring and advancing the rights of people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender. But a controversial political donation has stirred the nationwide wrath of gay and lesbian groups that previously had praised the retail chain. Target apologized after its $150,000 contribution to an organization supporting Tom Emmer, the aggressively antigay Republican candidate for governor of Minnesota, was publicly disclosed, as required by Minnesota law.

Public disclosure of campaign financing is an absolute necessity for healthy politics, and Minnesota is to be praised for requiring full sunshine. Of course, campaign gurus in Washington are pointing to Target’s troubles as another reason for corporations, unions and special interests to cling to the shadows.

The professionals are counting on full employment from the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision to overturn decades of law and allow unlimited corporate spending on federal candidates.

There is no mandate for disclosing this spending, and legislation to enact one is hanging by a thread in Congress. Lawmakers should take note that the same Supreme Court decision also prescribed public disclosure of that spending to help voters “make informed choices in the political marketplace.”

The Target experience should be a lesson in the value of disclosure. The company, which insisted it supported Mr. Emmer solely for his pro-business views, discovered that it is bad business to back a candidate so out of step with the rest of its values. Presumably, it will be more alert now, knowing that customers are watching.

The House has passed a worthy transparency measure, but Republicans in the Senate are blocking it. It is crucial that Republican moderates who have objections — Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Scott Brown of Massachusetts — negotiate to improve it. They hold the key to protecting voters in the ever-slicker and money-laden political marketplace.

A version of this editorial appeared in prin