A recent article in the Rocky Mountain News took to task a group supporting a Wal-Mart in a neighboring community for receiving a majority of their funding from the company.  That is fine but what the article failed to disclose is that the anti Wal-Mart group received most of their money from unions!  This letter to the editor points out the real facts. 

From the October 20, 2005, Rocky Mountain News

In reading the October 14, 2005 article in the Rocky Mountain News about the financing of the campaigns for and against the proposed Westminster Wal-Mart, one comes away with the impression that it is a David and Goliath story. 

$75,000 has been contributed by Wal-Mart to the group supporting the store.  The story in the Rocky says the group opposed "has received about $24,000 from 34 donors, according to its report" and it fails to provide more detail.  This leads one to believe that Citizens for Repeal, the group trying to stop the building of the store, is being funded by ordinary citizens and is quite deceiving.  

In writing the story the Rocky Mountain News failed to fully disclose the sources of the Citizens for Repeal funding, something which is a woeful omission.  In fact, $20,000 of their $23,915 of funding has come from the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW), a massive labor union that nationwide has vehemently opposed Wal-Mart.  So how small is David in this case?  How about assets of nearly $100 million dollars for the national headquarters of the union ($99,802,233 per Department of Labor 2004 statistics)!  Locally, the two local branches of the UCFW combine for nearly $16 million of assets. 

So whether you are for or against the Wal-Mart it is hardly a David and Goliath story as portrayed and the Rocky Mountain News was remiss in providing full disclosure. 

The fact is that the area of the proposed store is blighted and woefully in need of redevelopment.  The new store will bring much needed renewal to the area and will be a marked improvement for the city and the residents.

The original article can be viewed by clicking here.