Wal-Mart to HP Reap Worker Political Donations Through Charities

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-23/wal-mart-to-hp-reap-worker-political-donations-through-charities.html

U.S. companies, forbidden to give money directly to political action committees, are taking advantage of controversial federal rules allowing them to ask employees to do it for them in exchange for matching charitable donations.

It’s legal and gives businesses from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to Coca-Cola (KO) Co. to Hewlett-Packard Co. a way to fund their PACs, which direct money to political candidates. The matching contributions provide an incentive for employees, most of them managers, to contribute to the PAC.

The practice was approved by the Federal Election Commission in the late 1980s and has become commonplace at a time when companies face increasing scrutiny over their political donations. The FEC split over the legality of matching PAC contributions with charitable donations at least seven times between 1994 and 2009.

In an interview, former FEC chairman Scott Thomas said the exchange flouts the spirit of campaign-finance laws, which forbid companies from reimbursing for donations, including through a bonus or “other form of direct or indirect compensation.”

[hootinholler]

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