Ever since Target decided to wade in on the MN-GOV election last year with a big check for notoriously anti-gay Tom Emmer, I haven't shopped there. And I'm hardly the only one; for instance, check out the YouTube below.
Why Target's CEO - Greg Steinhafel - hasn't been fired is beyond me. And it's not that Steinhafel - personally - is a big donor to the Mn GOP and GOP candidates - it's his money, and it's his right to donate to who he wants. It's that Steinhafel is the guy who apparently has "The Buck Stops THERE!!!" sign on his desk. Steinhafel has given me no reason to once again shop at Target; if anything, his actions make me more determined that until Steinfels goes, I don't go to Target.
Steinfel's latest Mea Nota Culpa? From CityPages.com:
Now, CEO Gregg Steinhafel is telling Target shareholders that the company isn't taking a position on the gay marriage ban campaign now getting cranked up ahead of the 2012 elections.
"We are going to be neutral on that particular issue, as we would be on other social issues that have polarizing points of view," Steinhafel says.
(Steinhafel) said Target will stay politically neutral when it comes to social issues such as gay marriage but wants "a seat at the table" when it comes to business issues such as credit-card swipe fees, health care, tax and trade issues.
Apparently, in the cruel and cold-hearted conservative world Steinhafel lives, the happiness and well-being of employees that happen to love someone of the same sex and want the same right to wed as everyone else isn't a "business issue."
If Steinhafel wants Target Corp's Corporate Treasury donating to candidates based on their business beliefs, he better be sending Target dough to help defeat The Bradlee Dean Anti-Marriage Amendment.
Or he'd better not be sending anything from Target Corp's Corporate Treasury to anybody.
Once Steinhafel quits these flip-flopping "contortions" (that's what CityPages calls 'em; go on over there for their take AND links to some coverage City Pages has given Steinhafel's FUBAR) he might just mend a few fences and regain a few customers.
Of course, if Target Corp simply decided to (stuff)-can Steinhafel, and replace him with someone that isn't the cold-hearted conservative Steinhafel is, they might regain a lot.
