REV. AL SOAKS UP BOYCOTT BUCKS: BIZ GIANTS PAY OR FACE RACE RALLIES

New York Post ^ | June 15, 2008 | ISABEL VINCENT and SUSAN EDELMAN

[ETL]

Almost 50 companies - including PepsiCo, General Motors, Wal-Mart, FedEx, Continental Airlines, Johnson & Johnson and Chase - and some labor unions sponsored Sharpton's National Action Network annual conference in April.

Terrified of negative publicity, fearful of a consumer boycott or eager to make nice with the civil-rights activist, CEOs write checks, critics say, to NAN and Sharpton - who brandishes the buying power of African-American consumers. In some cases, they hire him as a consultant.

The cash flows even as the US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn has been conducting a grand-jury investigation of NAN's finances.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06152008/news/regionalnews/rev__al_soaks_up_boycott_bucks_115554.htm

[ETL]

Is it really “blackmail” or are these crops willing participants? Groups like LaRaza have equal funding from some of the very same “sponsors”.

I have sometimes wondered about the red Macy's star.

[lady lawyer]

When the mob does this, people go to jail for it.