Costco chairman, CEO give $95,000 each to defeat Bush

[Robbien]

Bloomberg News

Costco Wholesale Corp. Chairman Jeffrey Brotman and CEO James Sinegal gave $95,000 each in December to a political fund that aims to defeat President Bush in the November election, records filed with the Internal Revenue Service show.

Brotman and Sinegal were among 25 people who gave a combined $7.9 million to the Joint Victory Campaign 2004 fund, which seeks to "change the course of the country away from the Bush administration's radical agenda" and elect "progressive" candidates, according to the fund's Web site.


The loss of 2 million jobs during the Bush administration, the decision to invade Iraq, and cuts in social programs led him to donate to the fund, said Sinegal of the Issaquah-based discount stores.

This is the whole article. Not even long enough for the four paragraph rule. But so much good news in so few words! Here is the link anyway
http://www.tribnet.com/business/story/4704137p-4655022c.html

[maddezmom]

1. excellent news

[Cooley Hurd]

2. I wish I had a Costco here in the Capital region (NY)...

I would patronize them with GLEE!

[treefrogjohn]

3. One more reason to shop at Costco instead of Walmart

Not that I needed another reason.

[Lorien]

4. I'm already a Costco executive member

but I'll be trying to get more of my friends to join after reading this wonderful news! :toast:

[alittlelark]

5. I used to detest Costco

The crowds, lines....But when I found out they donate 100% to Dem's I renewed membership. I find the crowds easier to cope with these days


Go out and get a flat of food for freedom!!

[Hamlette]

9. Go out and get a flat of food for freedom!

I absolutely love it.

They should do signs at their stores with this.

Also remember Home Depot supports the GOP while Lowe's supports Dems. When you have a choice. . .

[BiggJawn]

27. Lowe's supports the Dems? Got a Cite?

We have yet to be infested with the scourge that is Home Defa yet, but if you can show me some #'s I'll be sure to spread that info around when they DO come to town!

[West Coast Democrat]

37. Lowe's Supports Dems???

At the start of the Iraq Invasion that place was COVERED with flags...it looked like a Nazi nightmare in that store. I don't think I'll ever return.

[wabeewoman]

61. I thought Home Depot was employee

owned. I know Lowe's was something else and sold a couple years ago.

[wryter2000]

19. Crowds and lines

We spent the extra $45 to become executive members. You get back 5% of your purchases, so if you shop there a lot, it can pay for itself. We get to go in an hour early that way and have the run of the place. It's worth the money.

[fameless]

24. I, too, am an exectutive member

and damn proud of it

[Lorien]

38. Plus, if you don't make back what you spent

they refund the difference!

[glitch]

6. I and a lot of my family will be joining just as soon as we can! nt

[LeftCoast]

7. Costco?!?

I always just assumed they were Repukes. Well, finally a reason to go shopping there. This just *might* make the checkout-lines and the super-redundant exit line a little more bearable...

[Bronco69]

8. Looks like I'll be getting

a Costco card this weekend! :-)

[David__77]

10. They pay their employees better than "Sam's Club."

I can smell it in the air, so to speak. The workers at Sam's Club look positively miserable. I much prefer being in a Costco for one thing because the workers there are less distressed looking.

[0rganism]

13. There was a recent WSJ(?) article about that

The business analysis excoriated Costco for actually giving its employees a living wage and a reasonable benefits package. Said they weren't boosting stock prices as fast as they could by slashing salaries (i.e., cutting costs). Compared it with Sam's Club, where people work for minimum wage and joke benefits. The analyst couldn't understand why Costco stock was strong anyway.

That's values for ya.

[David__77]

14. Typical.

These people have slaveholder values--they see people as property. Costco is more pleasant to shop at and provides higher quality products. I would prefer that they were represented by a union, but I'm glad the employees are doing relatively well.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

58. Costco is union!

they're teamsters

[Lorien]

40. I think the WSJ artical said

that the average Costco salary was $40,000. No wonder the employees are so helpful! :-)

[samsingh]

i'm going to buy at costco now

cool! they deserve our business.

[samsingh]

11. i'm going to buy at costco now

cool! they deserve our business.

[T Bone]

80. Shop Costco Defeat Fascism

n/t

[stumblnrose]

12. I waited on the CEO many times

When I was a waiter. He was a gentleman and a great tipper.

[Robbien]

15. You know these guys are going to be getting hate mail

from the rabid right after they read this article.

You can offset some of that hate with a bit of support mail. Here is the email link
https://www.costco.com/frameset.asp?trg=custservice%2Fcontactcostco%2Easp&log=

[Lori Price CLG]

75. Thank you, I just sent an email using the link you provided.

And, I am linking this article and email URL to the CLG website and for today's newsletter.

:)-Lori

Citizens For Legitimate Government

[PROGRESSIVE1]

16. Loving that COSTCO!

My whole family belongs to their membership club.

[wryter2000]

17. Wonderful!

We'll be doing more shopping at Costco, anyway, given the behavior of Safeway and Albertsons.

[DrWeird]

18. Know what they should do?

Bus in people to protest the Republican National Convention. And give them training on how to properly conduct civil disobedience.

[David__77]

20. Wall Street attacks Costco.

"But some of the practices that made Costco great have lately come under attack by Wall Street. The company's margins have been squeezed by rising labor costs and by Sam's latest run at its nemesis. Costco has twice reduced its earnings outlook this year; after the second warning, in August, its stock dropped 21%, to $29. For the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, Costco's earnings rose 3%, to $721 million, on a 10% rise in revenues. The stock has climbed into the mid-30s, though it's well below its all-time high of $58 in May 2000. Analysts have pounded on Sinegal to trim the company's generous health benefits and to otherwise reduce labor costs. But he's taken only limited steps in that direction, like modestly increasing employees' share of health-insurance premiums. That doesn't satisfy critics like Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Dreher, who recently wrote, "Costco continues to be a company that is better at serving the club member and employee than the shareholder."

"Sinegal just shrugs. "You have to take the shit with the sugar, I guess. We think when you take care of your customer and your employees, your shareholders are going to be rewarded in the long run. And I'm one of them ; I care about the stock price. But we're not going to do something for the sake of one quarter that's going to destroy the fabric of our company and what we stand for."

from Fortune Magazine quoted at:
http://www.itstheeconomy.blogspot.com/2003_11_16_itstheeconomy_archive.html

[stevedeshazer]

23. Great quote in that article

"Sinegal just shrugs. "You have to take the shit with the sugar, I guess. We think when you take care of your customer and your employees, your shareholders are going to be rewarded in the long run.

I agree with him.

[pacifictiger]

26. I agree too.

Too many on wall street have forgotten the goose's golden eggs parable.

[joeunderdog]

32. Patronize Costco (and BJ's), Boycott Walmart--and TELL THEM why.

Let them know why you shop where you shop. Walmart is obviously feeling some pressure, and it may be no coincidence that Costco is making a little anti-Bush news splash here. Make it rewarding for them.

[Vadem]

46. So BJs is a Dem contributor, too? I belong to both Costco...

and BJs, and shop at both, but BJs is closer and I tend to go there more often.

[Jackpine Radical]

49. You can order online from Costco.

I think their website is www.costco.com, but Google it to be sure.

[Vadem]

68. Actually, I have ordered online from Costco and had great

service. I ordered a Whirlpool dehumidifier for my basement that was quite a lot cheaper than the same dehumidifier at Home Depot. It was delivered right to my door.

[BiggJawn]

28. I always thought that's the first rule of Business?

"Take care of your customer"

I get so fucking tired of hearing about the god-damn poor-assed "stockholder" these days. "our Stockholders expect THS, and our Stockholders expect THAT..."

Let me tell you something. If you have mis-lead your stockholders to where they think they are ENTITLED to a dividend, then whoever wrote your Prospectus should be flogged. What ever happened to the idea that investment entails "certain risks, and a retrurn is NOT guarranteed"?

If Sinegal really runs his company like this, then he rawks, and I wish there was a Costco nearby for me to shop at. Instead, I'm at the mercy of those spoiled, greedy Walton kids....

[fameless]

21. My father would love this...

His two favorite things, ridding the country of Bush and Costco.

[dArKeR]

22. I met Jim in Taiwan at the Neihu store opening. He goes to every store

opening. My girlfriend and I spoke with him for about 10 minutes. We actually backed into him and I said excuse me. With the Grand Opening brochure in my hand, I said, 'hey you look like this guy on the brochure.' He's really a nice man.

And I met him before the Bush Crime Family Coup of 2000 and I'd never seen any reports about him to bias my opinion.

[goclark]

25. I've got my purse and On My Way To Costco

Yea for Costco. Finally a big business that is looking out for the little people.

I do not plan to set foot in that nasty Walmart. How much did they give to the * campaign?

[area51]

63. Welcome

Welcome to DU, goclark.

[Mountainman]

29. Tell the freepers and they will boycott Cosco and we won't have to shop

with them in the way.

[indepat]

30. Will miracles never cease?: the sad part is the failure of a large number

of COBs and CEO to follow suit for every COB or CEO of any large corporation knows how harmful the Administration's fiscal and tax policies are to the fiscal soundness of our treasury, the integrity and value of the dollar, its willingness and ability to meet present and future obligations, i.e., to avoid bankruptcy and/or reneging on social security and Medicare benefits. All those who know this but continue to support and shill for this Administration, IMHO, are far more cynical, mendacious, and greedy than patriotic. Far more of my grocery dollar will hereinafter be spent at Costco.

[Riptide]

31. I just returned from a Costco trip to read this....

I love that place. I am thrilled to hear they donate to the dems!

[mrdmk]

33. the only problem with Costco

Is the book section. The only political books they have is the right wing dribble. For very cheap I might had.

[indepat]

34. Maybe that will change: there are several liberal-slanted non-fiction

books currently on the best sellers list.

[damnyankee2601]

35. Think about that.

Costco sells remaindered. If their supply of right-wing drivel outstrips their left-wing drivel, what does that say about the market for right-wing drivel?

[mrdmk]

36. I have

and I find it funny LOL:evilgrin:

[Lorien]

41. Mine always has a mix

they have all the best selling liberal non-fiction right now. Especially "the price of loyalty" and the Phillips book.

[joeunderdog]

45. That caught my eye too. But that's OK.

Since I believe that the buyer should choose, I think it's good that they don't make that choice for us. Too many RW companies do this (read: Walmart) and it's just plain wrong.

I saw Franken's book there, as well. Maybe the UN-sold books are RW. Four out of the Top 5 BestSellers right now are Liberal reads.

[Sparky McGruff]

70. They only carry the top selling books. No depth, but cheap.

I bought Michael Moore (Dude, Where's My Country), Al Franken (Lies and the Lying Liars), and Suskind (Paul O'Neill, Price of Loyalty) there. All were quite inexpensive. And all were on the bestseller list at the time.

[shanti]

39. hmmm, what about this?

someone from another website told me (after i posted this story), that "The People’s Republic of China owns Costco, China has favorite nation status under George W. Bush."

anyone have a take?

[Robbien]

43. The Peoples Republic of China

along with Japan owns 30% of America because it holds 30% of our debt. And Bush goes to the Peoples Republic of China with our hat in his hand asking China to buy billions more of our debt each day.

So what is the question here? Should we be angry that our mortgage banker may own something here outright?

[West Coast Democrat]

42. Good, I like Costco!!....I've been to WalMart only once........

and never returned.

[Suziq]

44. Costco Just Opened . . .

in my area. Just mentioned to my husband the other day that we should join. Now we definitely will! :bounce:

:hippie:

[dk91ls]

47. money money money

But I thought that "big business"was a threat to the American way? Isn't Costco the #1 warehouse store in America? What number was Wal Mart? Can you say "SOFT MONEY". But that's illegal isn't it. Or is it law to gray.

[leftchick]

50. and your point is...

what?

[dk91ls]

51. My point

I'm asking, what is the reason for going head over heels for Costco and beating up Wal Mart when they are both doing the same thing except for the fact on the CEO is handing free money out the the Dems? What's the dish on Wal Mart?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

53. Wrong again HONEY!!!!!

Costco buys bulk in order to provide adequate prices and does NOT drive their suppliers out of business (read about Wal-Mart and Vlasick pickles) in order to provide those prices...the prices are reasonable based on the customer purchasing bulk..not purchasing a bargain that was driven so hard as to drive the supplier out of business.

COSTCO is UNION and always has been. Their employees are paid union wages with all the inherent union perks such as healthcare and retirement.

Wal-Mart is NON union, purshases bulk and BASED on the lowest possible price and engages in bidding wars among suppliers to stock their stores. The are NOT union, their rank and file employees mostly get minimum wage and they keep the bare minimum of full time employees so as to not provide benefits to the majority of their work force and they have many lawsuits against them, one of which they recently lost, for intimidating employees who try to organize.

Costco does not attempt to pass RIGHT TO WORK legislation which really means right to work for damn near nothing...WAL MART has funded RIGHT TO WORK laws (which are a sneaky way to get labor to negate long standing labor laws in their respective states) in the majority of states that have them.

[leftchick]

57. well said nothingshocksmeanymore!

Your reply was perfect! :)

[dk91ls]

64. Union -> non-union

Knowing what I know about the practices of Wal Mart, they tell the supplier what they will pay and that is it.Right? What I can see here is that can be a good and bad deal. Wal Mart marks up the price to "retail" and makes a huge profit off of that. In that same thought, isn't that the same thing Costco is doing? Buying Huge amounts of goods at a "bulk" rate and then charging a little below "retail" prices? The Union, Non-Union question will always be there I think, BUT, if the worker doesn't like the conditions he/she is in, there has to be a way out. Maybe going to Costco and getting that union job.

Just read the article on the Wal Mart vs. Vlasic article. OUCH!

Is this really just a Republican idea though? I'm sure, now hear me out, that you could probable find a similar article on a union shop couldn't you? Now, again the Union thing is a big fish, but, that seems to be what is running the price of goods up for the end consumer in many fields.I've had a few friends go to another supplier because the price of a specific good went up because of that fact.

[Robbien]

54. You must have been asleep

Walmart hires illegals at slave wages, practices inhumane worker conditions and wages, refuses to buy union made goods, has huge numbers of lawsuits against it for bad customer and employee conditions. This is the Utopian practice that the republicans want all corporations to follow.

[dk91ls]

62. Woken up

Illegals? I'm guessing you are referring to the third party cleaning crew? I have not heard of companies looking into the employment of the contracted companies to see if they are legals or not. Is there a law? As for not buying union goods, i see Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Levi's even and many, many "Made in the U.S.A" goods?

[DoctorMyEyes]

56. Because Costco

pays their employees a living wage, plus benefits. They don't lock their employees inside the stores overnight with no manager with a key on duty. They do not practice predatory marketing/pricing to drive out local businesses and drive suppliers to outsource overseas.

WalMart has contributed MILLIONS to Republicans and have lobbied to have the minimum wage LOWERED.

Walmart takes out "dead peasant" insurance on low level employees and profits when they die.

[dk91ls]

67. Nasty old Wal Mart

You have got to have some evidence with an accusation like that! "DEAD PEASANT" insurance! I would like to see that please.

The locking in of employees is a good question for sure. Working in the field I work in (Security Systems) I have seen MANY companies do this. It is not a "get to work and shut up" deal, it is a safety issue. In many cases, such as the Wal Mart cleaning contractor, the contractor makes the decision on what to do with the employees. How can that be Wal Marts' responsibility?

The practice of predatory marketing/pricing to drive out small business is crazy! This is in no way just WAL MART!!! Here in Fresno,CA we have an enormous amount of "warehouse" stores. 4-Home Depot, 2- Lowes, 4- Wal Mart and 3- Costco. It is almost impossible to find an independent store.
For what it is worth I really, REALLY hate that! I like the one on one that an "mom and pop" shop can give you.

Bringing the union thing to this one, we have lost a lot of these shops just for the fact of what few employees they did have went to the large warehouse stores for the union wage and the small guy goes bye-bye.

[Stephanie]

71. "Court slams Walmart's use of 'dead peasant' insurance"

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/view_article.php?id=4fcadcacaed04b00c3addfd78860641b

I don't know why we bother, though.

[dk91ls]

78. insurance?

That is one weird info site. Thanks for that info. Very frightening. Is that a national "policy" or is it a state to state accepted thing?

[Sparky McGruff]

72. Dead peasants! Getcher Dead Peasants here!

Would a fine company like Wal-Mart take out life insurance on low level employees? Possibly as a tax-dodge? Take a look...

http://www.walmartwatch.com/info/internal.cfm?subsection_id=131&internal_id=350

Gee. They seemed like such an ethical business.

[Stephanie]

74. It's also a disincentive to Worker Safety rules

I'm just sayin

[shanti]

69. you're from clovis...

isn't that near FRESNO?

[dk91ls]

77. Clovis

Yeah Fresno/Clovis are one in the same. Central Calif.

[llmart]

48. I am not a shopper at all

but this weekend I am going to Costco to buy a membership and do some shopping. I'm also going to email them right now. We must pass this info along to others - Costco over Sams!

[Robbien]

52. Glad to hear about your also emailing them

The Freepers have found this article and have a hugh thread started. They plan on "Dixie Chicking" CostCo. I wonder how soon it will be before Rush starts talking about it.

[MrMonk]

59. "Dixie Chicking" ?

Do you mean that they're planning an ineffective campaign of noisy and obnoxious behavior?

[joeunderdog]

66. Like making Costco #1 like the Chicks? They had more fans

than ever on their summer tour. The backlash was phantom, and their fans are bible belters from Bush Country in the South.

Every time the RW makes a splash about this, it makes uneasy Liberals feel less alone when they see their hero(in)s making a stand. Go get 'em Rush!

Michael Moore got Dixie Chicked, too. His book was a best seller.

Can I be Dixie Chicked next?

[Piperay]

55. HURRAY

I have a membership there and that's a GREAT reason to shop there! :bounce:

[Jazzgirl]

60. I dumped my Sam's membership two years ago after finally going to

Costco. Their stores are set up so well and the employees are always very helpful. The layout isn't that much different but then again it is. I am so glad they support the move away from the shrubbies!

Jazzgirl :thumbsup:

[Unforgiven]

65. Yep!

I know what we are doing this weekend. Signing up at Costco.




UNION,YES! :)



Proud Member:
AFSCME

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees

[GaryL]

76. Me too!

I'm dumping Sams Club and going Costco. My family is too.

[roguevalley]

73. You can actually make a living working for costco. God bless them.

[oscarmitre]

79. Perhaps they'll come to Australia

and break the cosy duopoly that exists here and help to get rid of our Tory government. Anyway it was very interesting to read about enlightened retailers.