POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT

Political Engagement

policy committee

Target’s Policy Committee is the primary body to guide the decision-making process regarding financial support of political activities. The Policy Committee consists of our most senior executives in areas most affected by public policy decisions. The Policy Committee, in conjunction with the Chief Executive Officer, is responsible for balancing our business interests with any other considerations that may be important to our team members, guests or other stakeholders. The Policy Committee reports to the Corporate Responsibility Committee of the Board of Directors at least twice per year.

Target may provide financial support to political candidates, political parties or ballot initiatives through two separate channels:

TargetCitizens PAC, which is funded through the voluntary contributions of our eligible team members, and

The use of general corporate funds where permitted by law.

Regardless of which channel for political contributions is used, our financial support is provided in a nonpartisan manner based strictly on issues that directly affect our business priorities.

PAC contributions

Target Citizens PAC, which is funded through the voluntary contributions of eligible team members, makes contributions in a bipartisan manner to federal candidates and organizations. Target’s Policy Committee determines the factors to be considered when making contribution decisions. These factors are:

•  General alignment with our business objectives
•  Extent of our presence in a candidate’s state or congressional district
•  Relevant legislative committee assignments
•  Leadership positions
•  Political balance
• The interests of our guests, team members, shareholders and other stakeholders

Information on Target Citizens PAC contributions can be found on the Federal Election Commission’s website.

Corporate Contributions

The use of general corporate funds for political contributions is permitted if the Policy Committee determines that it would be an appropriate means of advancing issues that are important to our business. The Policy Committee reviews and approves any use of general corporate funds for electioneering activities, including any contributions to political candidates, parties, committees or other political organizations, or for or against ballot measures. Before any contribution is made, the Policy Committee: 

(i) determines that the contribution supports our business interests; 

(ii) gives consideration to the interests of our guests, team members, shareholders and other stakeholders; and 

(iii) concludes that under the circumstances, the contribution is an appropriate means of advancing our public policy position. This Policy Committee approval process applies whether the contribution is made directly to a candidate or party, or indirectly through an organization operating under Section 527 or 501(c)(4) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.

One way Target and other retail companies engage at the state level is to support state retail association political action committees (PACs) where allowed by law. By pooling resources with other retailers, we are able to support candidates who understand and support issues important to the retail industry, such as tax and labor policy, environmental issues and organized retail crime. Target also is a member of national organizations such as the Democratic and Republican governors and attorneys general associations, which allows our team members to attend conferences and other events to learn about those elected officials’ policy priorities and initiatives and to share a retail perspective. Because those organizations separately engage in political efforts, we disclose our memberships as political contributions.

Target publicly discloses its political contributions using corporate treasury funds, which include contributions to recipients such as political candidates, parties and committees; 527 or 501(c)(4) organizations using the funds for political purposes; super PACs; governors associations; and independent political expenditures supporting or opposing campaigns or ballot measures. A list of such individual contributions of $5,000 or more, including recipient name and amount and updated twice per year, is available below.

•  2012 Corporate Political Contributions
•  2011 Corporate Political Contributions
•  2010 Corporate Political Contributions

Lobbying (also lobby) 

is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by many different types of people and organized groups, including individuals in the private sector, corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or advocacy groups (interest groups). Lobbyists may be among a legislator's constituencies, meaning a voter or bloc of voters within his or her electoral district, or not; they may engage in lobbying as a business, or not. Professional lobbyists are people whose business is trying to influence legislation on behalf of a group or individual who hires them. Individuals and nonprofit organizations can also lobby as an act of volunteering or as a small part of their normal job (for instance, a CEO meeting with a representative about a project important to his/her company, or an activist meeting with his/her legislator in an unpaid capacity). Governments often define and regulate organized group lobbying that has become influential.

The ethics and morality of lobbying are dual-edged. Lobbying is often spoken of with contempt, when the implication is that people with inordinate socioeconomic power are corrupting the law (twisting it away from fairness) in order to serve their own conflict of interest. But another side of lobbying is making sure that others' interests are duly defended against others' corruption, or even simply making sure that minority interests are fairly defended against mere tyranny of the majority. For example, a medical association, or a trade association of health insurance companies, may lobby a legislature in order to counteract the influence of tobacco companies, in which case the lobbying would be viewed by most people as justified (duly defending against others' corruption). The difficulty in drawing objective lines between which lobbyists are "good lobbyists" and which ones are "bad ones" is compounded by the cleverness with which lobbyists or their clients can speciously argue that their own lobbying is of the "good" kind. At heart, the effort to influence legislation is a power struggle. As in other forms of power struggle, such as war or law enforcement, motives range from predation to self-defense to fighting for justice, and the dividing line between predation and justice is subject to rationalization.

• Corporate Political Contributions | Read More : HERE 

INDONESIAN NEWS TIMELINE

20 Juni 2013

Tak Zaman lagi, Perusahaan Keluarga Bergantung pada Penguasa [1]

Wednesday, 24 April 2013, 18:27 WIB

Pengamat: Partai Politik Masih Dianggap Seperti Perusahaan | HERE 

25 January 2013 | 20:34 

Perusahaan Itu Bernama Partai Politik | HERE 

Senin, 29 April 2013, 23:19 WIB 

Jelang Pemilu, Perusahaan Asing Potensi 'Diperas' | HERE

04 May 2013 

Sikap Anti Kritik | HERE

Minggu, 19 Mei 2013, 17:35

Imparsial: Parpol Menyimpang dari Agenda Reformasi

          Parpol mengalami penyimpangan, kinerjanya tak menyentuh rakyat. | [1]

Friday, January 14, 2011

"Menyikapi UU Partai Politik Baru"

(Diskusi Terbuka Perhimpunan Rakyat Pekerja (PRP)) | HERE

UU Tentang Perubahan Atas Undang-Undang Nomor 2 Tahun 2008 Tentang Partai Politik (UU parpol baru) oleh DPR RI pada 16 Desember 2010. UU parpol yang baru ini diajukan oleh DPR dalam bentuk RUU pada 13 Oktober 2010 dan mulai dibahas pada 25 November 2010. Pembahasan RUU itu memakan waktu sekitar tiga minggu sebelum disahkan menjadi UU.

UU parpol baru ini merubah cukup banyak ketentuan dalam UU No. 2 Tahun 2008 (UU parpol lama). Ada 17 pasal yang dirubah dengan penambahan 1 pasal baru. Di tingkatan ayat, ada 27 ayat yang dirubah dengan penambahan 14 ayat baru. Dilihat dari sudut pandang kepentingan gerakan rakyat dan demokrasi, UU parpol baru ini problematik karena semakin mempersulit pembentukan dan pendaftaran partai politik sebagai badan hukum, sehingga rakyat dan gerakan rakyat akan semakin sulit untuk membangun partainya sendiri dan berpartisipasi dalam Pemilu.

Di UU parpol yang lama, untuk membentuk partai, syaratnya harus ada paling sedikit 50 Warga Negara Indonesia (WNI) yang sudah berusia 21 tahun sebagai pendiri. Sementara, di UU parpol baru, syarat untuk mendirikan partai, harus ada paling sedikit 30 WNI yang telah berusia 21 tahun atau sudah menikah di setiap provinsi sebagai pendiri. Baru kemudian, para pendiri yang jumlahnya minimal 30 orang di setiap provinsi itu diwakili oleh 50 di antara mereka untuk mendaftarkan partai tersebut.

Begitu pula, di UU parpol lama, untuk menjadi badan hukum, sebuah partai harus memiliki kepengurusan di minimal 60% dari jumlah provinsi, 50% dari jumlah kabupaten/kota di provinsi yang bersangkutan, dan 25% dari jumlah kecamatan di setiap kabupaten/kota yang bersangkutan. Di UU parpol baru, untuk menjadi badan hukum, sebuah partai harus mempunyai kepengurusan di 100% provinsi, dan minimal 75% dari jumlah kabupaten/kota di provinsi yang bersangkutan, serta 50%, dari jumlah kecamatan di kabupaten/kota yang bersangkutan.

Perubahan syarat lainnya adalah mengenai kantor partai. Kalau di UU parpol lama, hanya disebutkan bahwa untuk menjadi badan hukum, partai harus memiliki kantor tetap. Sekarang ini, aturan itu diperketat dengan merinci bahwa partai harus memiliki kantor tetap di tingkat pusat, provinsi dan kabupaten/kota sampai tahapan terakhir Pemilu. Ini berarti dibutuhkan dana yang cukup besar untuk mendirikan sebuah partai.

Ketentuan di atas tidak hanya berlaku untuk partai baru, tetapi juga untuk partai-partai lama. Dalam ketentuan peralihan di pasal 51 UU parpol baru, disebutkan bahwa partai politik yang telah disahkan sebagai badan hukum berdasarkan UU sebelumnya tetap wajib melakukan penyesuain dengan UU parpol baru ini dan melakukan verifikasi. Artinya, partai-partai lama juga terancam bubar jika tidak dapat memenuhi ketentuan UU parpol yang baru. 

Selain persoalan syarat pembentukan dan pendaftaran partai sebagai badan hukum, ada juga persoalan dalam ketentuan mengenai sumbangan kepada partai. Di UU parpol lama, perusahaan dan atau badan usaha bisa menyumbang paling banyak Rp4 miliar per perusahaan dan/atau badan usaha dalam waktu 1 tahun anggaran. Tapi sekarang ini, sesuai dengan UU parpol baru, perusahaan dan/atau badan usaha bisa menyumbang sampai maksimal Rp7,5 miliar. Ini membuka ruang semakin besar bagi pemodal untuk mempengaruhi partai dan tentu saja negara jikalau partai yang disumbangnya memenangkan kursi dalam Pemilu.

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