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***INTERNAL NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION***

Dangerous Dollars: Reject Walmarts Right-Wing Money!
On June 4th, Join Us to Rip Up and Cancel Their Checks to New York City

Context: A Desperate Walmart Uses Walton Family $$$ to Try to Buy Influence

Walmart is desperate to enter New York City, the most valued urban market in the country. The retail
giant has spent millions of dollars in recent years on ad campaigns and public relations to boost its
efforts to open stores here. But Walmart-Free NYC has defeated Walmart at every turn, educating New
Yorkers about the harmful effects Walmart would have on our local economy, businesses, and working
families. Communities always lose far more than they gain from Walmart, and New Yorkers across the
five boroughs know that they cant afford to lose the good jobs and small businesses that Walmarts
predatory stores would quickly take away.

Walmart has failed to open a single store in New York City, but the Walton family, which founded
Walmart decades ago, has not given up. Instead, it has been spending millions to try to buy influence
among city leaders and groups to advance a right-wing inequality agenda here.

The Walton Family Foundation has recently escalated its efforts to bankroll the privatization of public
education in New York City and to invest in conservative organizations here with strong ties to hedge
funds and corporations that are only advancing the interests of the wealthy elite.

Make no mistake: Walton money is Walmart money. We need to keep their dangerous dollars out of our
citys schools, our economy, and our politics. Walmart and the Walton family are banking on our silence
in more ways than one. If we dont fight back and raise our voices, they will continue to invest in right-
wing organizations committed to undermining our fight against inequality and our efforts to promote
better education, better jobs, and a better city for all.

June 4: Open Letter to Walmart and the Walton Family Rejecting their $$$

On June 4, two days before Walmarts annual shareholder meeting, opponents of the Walton familys
right-wing inequality agenda will speak out across the country. They will highlight how the Walton family
and Walmart have together contributed to the loss of good jobs, good public schools, and good local
businesses, and to an increase in conservative policies and inequality.

Members of the Walton family have spent hundreds of millions of dollars funding politicians, PACs, and
organizations at the state and local level that favor their corporate approach to school reform. And in
many American cities, Walton family money has played a direct and disturbing role in shaping public
policy and undermining the work of progressive Democrats.


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New York City is not going to be next. Not at a moment when progressive Democrats are ascendant and
in power. Not at a time when we are working hard to advance policies and legislation that will tackle and
reduce inequality in our schools, our economy, and in our workplaces. June 4 is the moment for New
York City Council Members to stand with Walmart-Free NYC and reject the Walton family and their
money in an open letter to the family.

Walmart and the Walton Family Foundation are two sides of the same toxic coin. Walmart money is
Walton money, and vice versa. We dont want any of it; we are getting rid of all of it.

The New York City letter will be modeled on an open letter that national civil rights groups sent a couple
of years ago calling on the Walton Family Foundation to sever its ties with ALEC, the right-wing bill mill
responsible developing and promoting reactionary legislation around the country:
http://walmart1percent.org/2012/07/12/open-letter-to-the-walton-family-foundation/

But with an eye toward garnering strong press attention, we will aim to go further in the New York City
open letter by calling on the Walton Family Foundation to cease and desist all their spending in New
York City, and by including with the letter, for dramatic effect, a ripped up and cancelled check from the
Walton Family to New York City to drive home the point.

The letter is available for your review by contacting audrey.walmartfree@gmail.com. The goal is to get
as many Council Members as possible to sign it and then release it on June 4 at a City Hall press
conference.

Its time to rip up and cancel the checks Walmart and the Walton family are writing to New York City. Its
time to reject these dangerous dollars. No more of their checks will be accepted or deposited here!

Event: Presser Where the Open Letter is Released and Checks Are Ripped Up

On June 4, at 12pm, we are holding a major press conference at City Hall where we will announce and
unveil the open letter to the Walton Family Foundation from New York City Council members.

The letter will highlight the most egregious examples of the Walton family investing in privatization of
our schools funding right-wing groups here in New York City that have ties to the broader national
conservative movement, including ALEC, which has promoted anti-immigrant, anti-union, and pro-
privatization legislation in states around the country. (More details on the Walmart and the Walton
family investment in the national right-wing inequality agenda are here:
http://walmart1percent.org/files/2012/02/Political-Giving-Analysis-Jun-2013.pdf)

We will also design and develop checks from Walmart and the Walton Family Foundation to New York
City that can be ripped up and cancelled on the spot at the press conference in front of reporters.

We will invite a broad and diverse cross-section of allies and partners to this press conference, including
organizations that have been active in the New York City fight against the privatization of public schools.

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Legal Disclaimer: UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Walmart employees as individuals or groups in their
dealings with Walmart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Walmart publically commit to adhering to labor
rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR
Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees.