Wal-Mart, Democrats’ New Friend
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — Wal-Mart has taken its lumps lately, especially from the Democratic Party over its treatment of employees. So the company has been courting the new majority on Capitol Hill by doing a lot of the standard stuff: hiring Democratic executives and donating more to the campaigns of Democratic candidates. Its political action committee has given 49% of its funds to Democrats this year, up from 32% in last year’s election.
But last week, Wal-Mart’s outreach got personal as well — it’s now doing favors for the families of powerful Democratic senators.
Last Tuesday evening, the world’s largest retailer sponsored a fancy reception in the Capitol’s LBJ Room off the Senate floor to celebrate a yet-to-be-completed documentary about female members of the chamber called “14 Women.” The film’s three producers include Mary Lambert, the older sister of Senator Lincoln, a Democrat of Arkansas, and Nicole Boxer, the daughter of Senator Boxer, a Democrat of California. The “Wal-Mart” on the name tags was larger than the guests’ names.
The event was a big hit. Wal-Mart said 12 of the now-16 women in the Senate (11 D’s and five R’s) showed up — including Senators Lincoln and Boxer, of course. One of the senators who did not attend was Senator Clinton, a Democrat of New York. Mrs. Clinton is a former Wal-Mart director (something some of her campaign aides would like the public to forget) whose younger brother, Tony Rodham, was once married to Nicole Boxer (something Mrs. Clinton probably would like to forget.)
But Wal-Mart did more to assist the project than pass out canapes and drinks. Last year, the company became the movie’s corporate sponsor when it handed the producers $150,000 to help complete the film. “Mary Lambert contacted Wal-Mart and wanted to know if we might be interested in helping to underwrite the documentary,” said company spokesman Robert Traynham.
Mr. Traynham added that the reception and grant were not forms of backdoor lobbying and had nothing to do with trying to improve Wal-Mart’s standing with senators, especially Democratic senators.
Oh.
