MN Forward, a pro-business group that finances T.V. commercials and other ads for or against gubernatorial and legislative candidates, has raised $100,000 from 3M and additional money from other businesses since the Aug. 10 primary elections, bringing its total receipts to nearly $1.3 million.
MN Forward is supporting GOP candidate for governor Tom Emmer, and 3M joins Target, Best Buy and other companies giving money to it.
Meanwhile, its polar opposite in political influence, the union-backed Alliance for a Better Minnesota, has spent nearly all of the $2.9 million it has raised to buy political ads and conduct other activity. It got money in recent weeks from Vance Opperman ($75,000), the teachers union Education Minnesota ($250,000) and the service workers union SEIU ($100,000).
Reports from those groups and other political committees were released Wednesday morning by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.
