Good government groups Common Cause and Public Citizen have filed a challenge with the Federal Election Commission of a Walmart practice that amounts to influence peddling. Stephens Media’s Peter Urban reports.
The company gives $2 to the company charity for every $! a manager puts into the corporation’s political PAC. It’s a nifty way to leverage Walmart wealth in a way to get around limits on what the company itself can put into a PAC.
“Federal law is clear — companies cannot fund their PACs with money from corporate coffers,” said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen. “Wal-Mart is attempting to evade this law by providing a 2-to-1 charitable match from corporate coffers for any campaign contribution to its PAC from company managers. That flouts the law by using substantial corporate money to reward campaign contributors.”
Wal-Mart says it is abiding by the law.
“We are confident that our matching program is lawful, and that the FEC will find this complaint brought by groups not affiliated with Walmart lacks merit,” a company spokesperson told Bloomberg News.