The Center for American Progress, a liberal group with deep ties to the Obama administration, is being forced to choose between its anti-union donors and its liberal ideals—and the group seems to be sticking with the money.
The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union has partnered with liberal nonprofit groups Engage Network and Corporate Action Network to organize a nationwide Black Friday strike against Wal-Mart, according to Huffington Post.
Workers are upset that Wal-Mart plans to begin its Black Friday sale at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. As of last month, 12.3 million Americans are unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But not all liberal groups appear to be completely on board with protesting Wal-Mart. ThinkProgress, the blog operated by the Wal-Mart-funded Center for American Progress (CAP), has scantly covered the strike, an editorial decision likely to feed speculation that the organization is pulling its punches on Wal-Mart in exchange for financial support.
During the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., Wal-Mart threw a party and fundraiser for CAP. And despite the group not disclosing its donors, Wal-Mart has disclosed that it has contributed between $500,000 and $1 million to the group over the last decade.
That financial relationship has resulted in coverage that has downplayed the progressive movement’s frustration with the nation’s largest employer. On Oct. 11, ThinkProgress posted one sentence and a link to an ABC News article about Wal-Mart workers threatening to strike on Black Friday. On Nov. 13, the liberal blog finally wrote a story about workers not wanting to do their jobs on Thanksgiving, but focused more on Sears and Target than Wal-Mart—and made no mention at all of the strike. Earlier in October there were two one-sentence mentions of strikes against Wal-Mart on the liberal blog.
In contrast, ThinkProgress has written numerous stories about protests of Koch Industries, and CAP even helped organize the protests.
During the 2012 cycle, Wal-Mart contributed $515,200 to Democrats including more than $53,000 to President Barack Obama's re-election effort.
UFCW and CAP did not returns requests for comment.