On July 8, Bluestem posted in Express Scripts worked to bring "certainty" to Minnesota's (GOP?) voters during redistricting:
In Groups Shield Political Gifts of Businesses, an article first online in yesterday's New York Times by Mike McIntire and Nick Confessore, readers learn:
Beyond the contributions to large, established nonprofits like the chamber and American Action Network, corporate money is also quietly shaping the political discourse through more obscure groups, none of which are required to disclose their donors.
In Minnesota last year, Express Scripts, a major drug benefit manager, gave $10,000 to a Republican-linked group, Minnesotans for a Fair Redistricting, involved in a partisan fight over redrawing legislative boundaries. Express Scripts made the donation, previously unreported, because the “electoral maps in Minnesota were in doubt and we supported efforts to bring certainty to Minnesota voters,” said Brian Henry, a spokesman for the company, which is based in St. Louis. He added that the firm has a facility in Bloomington, Minn.
Minnesotans for a Fair Redistricting was:
registered under Jack Meeks’ name; Jack is a member of the Freedom Foundation board. Chris Georgacus [sic] is heading up the Fair Redistricting effort and is also member of the Freedom Foundation board. Also working on redistricting for Republicans is lawyer Tony Trimble, who also sits on the Freedom Foundation board.
These names should prove familiar to those looking over the decision issued today by the Minnesotan Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board in which Minn. GOP, former chairman face fines over recount. Read the decision, the depositions, the exhibits all here. (Bluestem will be posting a separate entry on that delightful reading material).
Now the company seems to be fleeing involvment with conservative corporate front groups. The Center for Media and Democracy's PR Watch reports in Express-Scripts is Twenty-Sixth Corporation to Dump ALEC:
Pharmacy benefits manager Express-Scripts told the Center for Media and Democracy today that it has ended its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), making it the twenty-sixth business to dump ALEC in recent months.
Read the PR Watch story to learn why close alliances with ALEC and Republican front groups like Minnesotans for a Fair Redistricting might not be the best investment for the communities they serve.
Image: GOP activist Jack Meeks.
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