Dear Human Events Reader,
Who bankrolls Al Sharpton?
The answer might surprise you. By and large, it is not African-Americans.
It is corporate America.
Yes, the checks are written by corporate executives - who are mostly rich and white.
I am writing to ask for your help.
We must put an end to this gravy train. Before I tell you how, I'd like to alert you to the size of the problem.
RACE HUSTLER'S REAL CONSTITUENCY
Big companies support Al Sharpton and his organization, the National Action Network.
They include Abbott Laboratories, Allstate, Anheuser-Busch, Citigroup, Colgate-Palmolive, FedEx, Ford, General Motors, Home Depot, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, and Pfizer.
These companies make five and six figure donations.
Every time you buy their products or do business with these companies, you are subsidizing this hustler.
This situation will continue until there is a response by customers and shareholders like you and me.
With your help, we will show corporate executives that they will pay a price for caving in to Sharpton.
Using a variety of legal and public relations tactics, we have gone after Sharpton and the big companies that bankroll him.
This spring, we are sponsoring shareholder proposals at Anheuser-Busch, Boeing, GE and United Airlines.
Your gift today will help us keep them up - click here now.
NLPC VS. SHARPTON
At the 2007 PepsiCo annual meeting in Dallas, I made an issue of the company's support for Sharpton, who actually got paid to serve on its advisory board.
Indra Nooyi, the new PepsiCo CEO, read without conviction a prepared statement defending the company's relationship with Sharpton. She seemed embarrassed.
Sharpton has apparently now been dropped from the Pepsi advisory board, but Pepsi continues to support the National Action Network.
If you will support us with a tax-deductible gift today, we will keep the heat on Pepsi and other companies to cut off Sharpton completely.
Sharpton's antics over the years have produced lots of criticism, but NLPC is the only group that has ever laid a glove on him.
Sharpton was fined $5,500 by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for filing late disclosure reports for his presidential campaign, in response to a Complaint by NLPC.
Moreover, Sharpton was forced to pay back $100,000 in federal matching funds for his presidential campaign after we filed another FEC Complaint. He was denied another $70,000 in matching funds.
Your gift will allow us to expose and put
an end to this shakedown - click here now.
SHARPTON FUNNY?
Some people think Sharpton is "funny." I was asked about this by Joe Scarborough on MSNBC. I replied,
Sharpton is unfunny...He accused an innocent man of a rape...He incited demonstrators against a Jewish business in New York City. One of those demonstrators ended up shooting up and burning down the place, killing eight people.
AP/Wide World Photos
I debated Sharpton himself on MSNBC. (O.J. Simpson's lawyer Johnny Cochran was also on, so it was actually two against one.) Never once did I call Sharpton "Reverend," because like Jackson, he is hardly a healer!
A few years ago, Sharpton's organization occupied a run-down, one room office. It was in debt and mired in tax problems.
In April, NAN held a glittering conference in Memphis with corporate executives and media luminaries taking part. The event enjoyed heavy corporate sponsorship.
Colgate-Palmolive accepted a "corporate excellence" award from Sharpton. We immediately demanded that the company repudiate the award. To press home the point, I went to the Colgate-Palmolive annual meeting in New York City and directly confronted its Chairman Reuben Mark.
It is through this kind of "direct action" that we can put corporate executives on the spot. Please consider a tax-deductible gift today in support of this effort. Click Here Now.
SHARPTON HAS NO CLOTHES
I think that the executives who "play ball" with Al Sharpton know exactly what they are dealing with: a racial extortionist whose real agenda is not civil rights, but his own enrichment.
The emperor of "racial justice" has no clothes.
Most Americans fully understand what Sharpton is up to, including most African-Americans.
I believe that this provides us with an opportunity. No one is comfortable defending the indefensible. So let's make these bigshot executives do it!
Our goal is nothing short of ending all corporate support for Al Sharpton.
Your gift today will help us build on extensive actions to date.
NLPC is the only organization that regularly monitors and documents the statements of Al Sharpton.
We are in this fight for the long term.
WHAT IS NLPC?
Founded in 1993, our mission is to promote ethics in public life. We have a track record of accomplishment:
- 1993 - NLPC successfully sued Hillary Rodham Clinton's secret health care task force to open its meetings and records. In their recent books, both Hillary and former Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal acknowledged NLPC's role in sinking her plan. 1
- 1996 - Liberal FDA Commissioner David Kessler resigned soon after NLPC secured documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) showing that he overbilled his expense reimbursements.
- 2003 - NLPC exposed the Boeing Tanker Deal Scandal, eventually sending two Boeing executives to jail, and saving taxpayers $4-5 billion, and perhaps a lot more.
- 2005 - Two PACs associated with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) were fined $21,000 as a result of an FEC Complaint.
- 2006 - We exposed the earmarking scandal involving Rep. Alan Mollohan (WV), and triggered an ongoing FBI investigation. Mollohan resigned as ranking Democrat on the House Ethics Committee.
- 2007 - Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) sold back land she had bought in a "sweetheart" deal a day after NLPC filed a Complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee.
In short, NLPC gets results! Through these successes, we have also built credibility.
We must now turn our experience and skills to exposing and stopping corporate America's support for Al Sharpton.
PLEASE, WON'T YOU HELP?
I refuse to join the political establishment and accept Sharpton as a legitimate religious or political figure. You do not have to, either.
The (mostly white) liberal media has anointed him spokesman for African-Americans, when he is not.
Please consider a tax-deductible gift today. Click Here Now.
Most Americans are unaware that Al Sharpton is bankrolled by corporate America. Your gift will allow us to expose and put an end to this shakedown.
Sincerely,
Peter Flaherty
President
