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Local companies gave big to host RNC
Corporations such as Target and Best Buy donated millions, saying they wanted to help their hometown.
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Seven Minnesota companies gave a million dollars or more to help stage the Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities last month.
Target Corp. and Best Buy led the local pack, offering $3 million and $2.25 million respectively. US Bank gave $1.05 million and UnitedHealth Group gave $1.5 million. Others in the million-dollar club included Pentair Corp., St. Jude Medical, 3M Company and Travelers. Six other firms located outside Minnesota also tossed in more than a million dollars.
According to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Host Committee's fundraising report, filed with the Federal Election Commission late Wednesday, the committee took in more than $51 million, donated by corporations and individuals. It has spent more than $46 million so far on the convention, and has about another $1 million in remaining debts.
Target Corp. spokeswoman Amy Reilly said her company's $3 million investment in the convention was purely civic.
"This wasn't about Target, this was about helping showcase Minnesota," she said. "We've never donated to a host committee before; we did it this year because one of them was in our hometown."
Best Buy also contributed to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, but a much smaller amount, $250,000, plus in-kind donations. The amounts could easily have been flipped, said Best Buy Corporate Public Relations Manager Dawn Bryant, had the Twin Cities scored the DNC instead.
"It has everything to do with Minnesota being our hometown," she said, although she noted that Best Buy does have a vested interest in political issues such as electronics recycling and the digital television transition.
Organizers of the Democratic convention reported raising $61 million.
Of Minnesota's top 20 Fortune 500 companies, 19 contributed to the GOP convention. Only Hormel did not give directly, but the company based in Austin did participate in the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council's Ag Night gala event Sept. 2.
Host Committee CEO Jeff Larson estimated that 57 percent of the cash raised by the host committee came from outside Minnesota.
Campaign finance watchdog Steve Weissman said the out-of-state donors attracted his attention.
"That means that companies and others that were seeking federal influence purely, or didn't have any interest in promoting Minnesota particularly, accounted for most of the money," said Weissman, of the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute in Washington.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul Host Committee spent the largest chunks of money on rent to the Xcel Center, payments to David J. Nash Associates, Inc., a California-based producer who staged the convention, and payments to a variety of fundraising consultants.
Staff writer Mitch Anderson and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Maria Elena Baca • 612-673-4409
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