Minnesota Forward (or MN Forward) is a
political action group funded by local corporations. (Not to be confused with the Forward Party of Minnesota, which is Forward's branch of the party in the state of Minnesota.) They were "established to ensure that private-sector job creation and economic growth are at the top of the agenda during the 2010 campaign" Their mission statement says that "MN Forward is an effort by Minnesota job providers to elect a governor and state legislators who understand the importance of creating private-sector jobs and economic opportunity in our state."
As of late summer 2010, MN Forward was supporting a ticket consisting of
Tom Emmer
Thomas Earl Emmer Jr. (born March 3, 1961) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician who has served as majority whip in the United States House of Representatives since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he has represented since 2 ...
for governor,
Terri Bonoff
Terri E. Bonoff (born August 1, 1957) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Minnesota. She is a former member of the Minnesota Senate, representing District 44, which included portions of Minnetonka, Plymouth and Woodland in Henne ...
,
Doug Magnus
Douglas Rudy Magnus (born November 1950) is an American, Minnesota politician and a former member of the Minnesota Senate, who represented District 22, which includes all of Cottonwood County, Minnesota, Cottonwood, Jackson County, Minnesota, Ja ...
, and
Jim Metzen for State Senate, and
Gene Pelowski,
Doug Wardlow, and
Kurt Zellers for the State House. However, the PAC, which took in $1.9 million in contributions, dedicated 97% of its expenditures towards supporting Emmer and defeating Democratic gubernatorial nominee
Mark Dayton
Mark Brandt Dayton (born January 26, 1947) is an American politician who served as the List of governors of Minnesota, 40th governor of Minnesota from 2011 to 2019. He served as a United States Senate, United States Senator representing Minneso ...
.
Criticism over donations
In July 2010,
Target Corporation
Target Corporation is an American retail corporation that operates a chain of discount department stores and hypermarkets, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh-largest retailer in the United States, and a component of th ...
and
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...
, among others, gave $150,000 and $100,000 respectively to Minnesota Forward. The funds were then spent on campaign ads for Tom Emmer, which provoked criticism by
Human Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for L ...
, due to his positions on
LGBT
LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...
rights.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official website
United States political action committees