I think I may have gotten KB Toys (Republican) in trouble

[Ian David]

From: Matt Hirschland <[email protected]>

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your inquiry and alerting us to a question about the accuracy of information we provide as a public service in our issue briefs. We update these periodically (typcially every other year) with the support of a grant made to BSR - we are 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Your letter has precipitated an inquiry to KB to find out the nature of their policy as we strive to assure accurate information. According to KB, they are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, have been acquired by Bain Capital and unable to verify their policies at this time due to these changes.

We are confident that at the time of original publication, the information was accurate. Now, in light of the changes at KB, will be removing the reference to them in the brief until we can verify their policies with confidence.

Thank you for flagging this for us.

Matthew Hirschland, Ph.D.
Director, Research & Communications

Business for Social Responsibility
111 Sutter Street, 12th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94104, USA


-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 7:03 AM
To: advisoryservices; marketing; [email protected];
[email protected];
[email protected]
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: KB Toys political contributions- BSR has wrong info


It has become very important to me that I avoid patronizing companies that
donate to Republicans or other anti-American causes.

I have found sites like BuyBlue.org and ChooseTheBlue.com to be very helpful in
this regard.

Based on the article below from Businesses for Social Responsibility, I had done
all my holiday shopping at Kaybee Toys, and have been using it as my exclusive
toy store for my three year old daughter and for gifts to friends and family.

Now, after researching on my own, I am disturbed to find that Michael Glazer and
James McGrady have been donating to Republicans.

Now, Mr. McGrady's donations were at least to a Republican that was opposed to
Ohio's anti-gay marriage amendment, which redeems him somewhat.

This is in addition to Kaybee's decision to sell the George Bush Aviator Doll:

Boycott KB Toys For Misleading the Public About Bush's Military Record
http://www.petitiononline.com/kbtoys/petition.html


In any case, unless this situation changes, I intend do buy all my toys from
COSTCO (99% Democrat), which has a surprisingly good selection.
http://www.buyblue.org/detail.php?corpId=17

The following information on your site is no longer correct:

Protecting the Company from Escalating Demands for Contributions

Some business leaders have increasingly expressed concern about escalating
demands for political contributions. Consolidated Stores Corp, a U.S.-based
retail chain that operates KayBee Toys, decided to avoid this problem by not
giving at all. The company's general counsel explained, "We realized that if we
were going to get into making political contributions, it would be endless. We
decided we would be better off if we simply avoided it altogether... We don't
believe political contributions could have any bearing on our success."

More:
http://www.bsr.org/CSRResources/IssueBriefDetail.cfm?DocumentID=50552



Kaybee Toy and Hobby
PRESIDENT
GLAZER, MICHAEL
http://corp.sec.state.ma.us/corp/corpsearch/CorpSearchSummary.asp?ReadFromDB=True&UpdateAllowed=&FEIN=042073156

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?NumOfThou=0&txtName=GLAZER%2C+Michael&txtState=MA&txtZip=&txtEmploy=&txtCand=&txt2004=Y&txt2002=Y&txt2000=Y&Order=N

GLAZER, MICHAEL
LENOX,MA 01240
KB TOYS/CEO
11/6/2003
$3,950
Republican State Cmte of Massachusetts




KB TOYS/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
MCGRADY, JAMES A
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleres/reppri04.htm
http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?NumOfThou=0&txtName=MCGRADY&txtState=OH&txtZip=&txtEmploy=&txtCand=&txt2004=Y&txt2002=Y&txt2000=Y&Order=N

KB TOYS/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
MCGRADY, JAMES A
6/28/2002
$500
Kinnaman, Mathew W (Republican)


MCGRADY, JAMES A
DUBLIN,OH 43017
RETAIL VENTURES INC
6/20/2004
$1,000
Voinovich, George V (Republican)
http://voinovich.senate.gov/biography/index.htm#tag10
(On the other hand, Voinovich opposed Ohio State Issue 1 which would ban gay
marriage)
http://www.opcpac.com/About/

MCGRADY, JAMES A
DUBLIN,OH 43017
SCHOTTENSTEIN STORES CORP
3/15/2003
$1,000
Voinovich, George V


-----

See prior thread:

Kaybee Toys (Republican bastards)
Topic started by IanDB1 on Apr-22-05 09:46 AM (3 replies)
Last modified by IanDB1 on Apr-22-05 10:18 AM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1738790


More on Bain Capital:

http://cltg.org/cltg/clt2004/04-09-23.htm

Johnston said GOP Gov. Mitt Romney is using his experience in the private sector as CEO and founder of venture capital firm Bain Capital to influence his former corporate colleagues into helping the GOP reform platform.

"This is tainted money," Johnston said. "We think it is very important for the public to understand who is funding this campaign."

State House News Service
Monday, September 20, 2004
Dem chief raps Romney on fundraising,
governor cites their "whining"

[benburch]

1. You get an "Atta-boy!" for that!

Excellent!

[Ian David]

2. Thanks! So, Mitt Romney's company bought KB Toys out of bankruptcy

And the president of KB Toys is contributing money to The Republican State Cmte of Massachusetts

Cross-post to new thread:

Did I uncover a real scandal or not? Mitt Romney, Blaine Capital, KB Toys
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1744953