Minnesota Forward (or MN Forward) is a political action group funded by local corporations. 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.Helgeson, Baird, ''Star Tribune'', July 11, 2010. (born March 3, 1961) is an American attorney and politician who has been the U.S. representative for since 2015. The district includes most of the Twin Cities' far northern s ...

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 Hennepin ...

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, Jackson, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone and Rock counties in ...

, and

Jim Metzen James P. Metzen (October 26, 1943 – July 11, 2016) was an American politician and member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he represented District 52, which included portions of Dakota ...

for State Senate, and

Gene Pelowski Gene P. Pelowski, Jr. (born February 2, 1952) is Minnesota politician and member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he represents District 26A, which includes Winona County ...

Doug Wardlow Douglas G. Wardlow (born July 3, 1978) is an American attorney and politician who served as a Minnesota state representative from District 38B. Wardlow was the unsuccessful Republican nominee in the 2018 Minnesota Attorney General election. E ...

, and

Kurt Zellers Kurt Zellers (born October 16, 1969) is an American politician who served as speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013 and minority leader from 2009 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, he represente ...

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 40th governor of Minnesota from 2011 to 2019. He was a United States Senator for Minnesota from 2001 to 2007, and the Minnesota State Auditor from 1991 to 1 ...

Criticism over donations

In July 2010,

Target Corporation Target Corporation (doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a compon ...

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 rebra ...

, 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 LGB ...

, due to his positions on

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

rights.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
United States political action committees