E-mail a friendCarol Pott
airdate April 20, 2006
Carol Pott is editor of The Blue Pages, a directory of companies' political contributions to both major political parties, the unique features of their business practices and a rating by partisanship. The intent is to give readers information that help them shop according to their political leanings. Pott is also the co-editor of Genocide in Rwanda, which looks at the role of ethnicity and politics in Africa. Her experiences in Rwanda were published in several U.S. newspapers, including The Washington Post.
Carol Pott
Tavis: We continue our 'Road to Wealth' series tonight with Carol Pott, editor of 'The Blue Pages.' The comprehensive directory rates U.S. companies by their politics and their practices, allowing consumers like you to vote with your wallets. Carol, nice to have you on the program.
Carol Pott: Thank you having me.
Tavis: The idea for this came from where?
Pott: Well, it started really with the 2004 elections. A lot of us were working on different projects. We have six researchers on the book, and a lot of us were working on different projects, and really felt at a loss after the election. Really feeling like we were kind of, our vote didn't count, in a way. And so, we wanted to do a project that sort of gave us a feeling of moving forward in that respect. And wanted to put together something that made a difference.
Tavis: Tell me where the connection came from, from having worked in a political process to wanting to do something that is more business-based.
Pott: Well, it really has to do with corporate governance and with electoral reform. Both of those things were really the nascence of the book. We came together, as I mentioned, this group of six people, wanting to make a difference in some way that would affect more than just people who might vote. Because a lot of people don't vote; and yet everyone shops in some way or another.
And so we felt like there was a way to make a difference and look at just the regular, everyday purchases that people make. Really calling for people to look at corporations with a clear eye, with an informed mind, and make decisions based upon that information.
Tavis: Was there any concern that calling it 'The Blue Pages," speaking of politics, red states, blue states, any concern that calling it, before we get into it, 'The Blue Pages" might cause some consternation?
Pott: Well, I think you certainly eliminate some of your market, without a doubt. It was a decision that was based upon really wanting to promote the politics behind the book. Yet, the research is done from, without any bias. The research, it was same for every company. We didn't look at Democratic companies differently than Republican companies. Every company was approached in the same way with the methodology.
Tavis: To your formulation, not mine, is there such a thing as a Democratic company or a Republican company? That's your phrase.
Pott: Well, not entirely. No, I really just say that because of just the way that the research kind of divided things. We really ended up looking at companies and finding out, based upon the top contributions of the top three executives and then the company PAC, political action committee, we ended up looking at them in that way. And so you did sort of end up, just throughout the research, it's a year of our lives. We kind of ended up looking at it like that.
Tavis: Yeah, Republican and Democrat?
Pott: Yeah.
Tavis: Okay, so I've looked at this, obviously, and gone through it. But for those at home, when you open it up at look up a particular company, tell me what they're going to find about said company.
Pott: Well, it has a little graph that shows you what the political contributions are, and how the company rates in terms of their percentages. So if they are donating 70% to the Republicans, the graph will show you 70% to the Republicans and 30% to the Democrats. But then we wanted to take it a step further to give you more information, because you can't make a decision just based on politics alone.
We wanted to give you information about the social practices of the company, their environmental impact, the labor practices that they have. And other information that might fuel your mind and give you a way to make a decision about whether to put your money in that company.
Tavis: What's the value, do you think, for the consumer in knowing all of that? And I'm glad you said that you can't make a decision just based on what party they give money to. And indeed, these people play both sides against the middle. They may give more to one party than the other, but the many of them hedge and cover their bets.
So, what does it mean to me that chairman or C.E.O. X and the two or three people that run the company along with him give more money to Republicans than Democrats? What does that mean to me as a voter, as a consumer?
Pott: Well, it depends on the company, largely. That would be my first response. But I think that consciously knowing where you're putting your money, we talked earlier about corporate governance. And there are corporations in the United States and all over the world that are doing things that many of us would find abhorrent. Would find horrifying.
And I think that knowing those things and consciously making a decision, so you're at the store and you're deciding between two products, if you knew that that company did something that was completely against your values, whether moral or ethical or whatever, if you knew that, had that information and were armed with that information, would you put your money there?
I don't think most of us would. I think most people, most Americans, are gonna make the decision in one way or another to support something that fits their values.
Tavis: Notwithstanding the energy and effort and hard work that you all, you and your six friends put into this, is there evidence that you've seen that suggests that Americans do, in fact, want to know more stuff like this about companies?
Pott: Well, certainly it's in the news a lot lately. There's been a lot of information about people seeking out that kind of information. And when, right after the elections, there were several organizations on line who are doing something similar on this; who are trying to rate the blueness of companies. And I think it is something that people are interested in learning more about. Even with the sweatshop labor issues that came out in the early nineties. That was enough to really fuel a big fire.
Tavis: Let me ask you a few questions, then, if I might, about what's in the book. Give me a couple of examples. We'll just do three. Give me, first question. Give me three examples of really blue companies.
Pott: Really blue companies.
Tavis: Really blue companies.
Pott: (Laugh) Well, the largest contributor to the Democratic Party is SBC.
Tavis: So SBC.
Pott: But they aren't a blue company, per se. I think they're about 60-40, if I recall correctly. They just are a larger dollar amount than a lot of companies, so I wouldn't really call them a blue company. Green Mountain Coffee Roastery is certainly a blue company. One hundred percent of their donations are Democratic.
And yet, they also have the kind of value statement that you would hope for as well. And I guess I'd really look at blue as meaning more than just the Democratic, you know, 100% Democrat supporters. I really look at it more as being a company that espouses all these values we would all like to uphold.
Tavis: Give me a couple of really red companies.
Pott: Really red companies. Well, UPS is the one that mainly comes to mind. UPS has...
Tavis: They're brown, they're not - just, bad joke, never mind. (Laugh) What can brown, what can red do for, what can brown-red do for you? But go ahead, red, brown, go ahead.
Pott: They are a little over two million dollars in donations to the Republican Party. They also are a top 10 contributor to the Democratic Party. But even SBC is the biggest donator to the Democratic Party, and their donation is under a million dollars. So you just see that right there. Here's a company that's over two million dollars to the Republican Party.
So the Republican Party is making two-thirds more than the Democratic Party just off the bat in all sectors.
Tavis: Another red company.
Pott: Another red company, Coca-Cola. Their donation structure is about I think in the 80-20 kind of range. But yet again, it's the social practices that really strike me with that. It's more the issues that we found in our research were many things overseas, many, many labor issues overseas that were really pretty horrifying.
Tavis: What did you find in the research beyond the politics that surprised you about a particular company, just about your research, period?
Pott: One of the things that surprised me was in the health and beauty sector, because health and beauty, I think most of us think of Chanel and Coty and these makeup firms or beauty product firms. And the top donators to both parties in the health and beauty sector are Pfizer and Glaxo-Smith-Klein, and these big pharmaceutical firms. And they by far dominate that sector.
Tavis: It's a fascinating read that might empower you. Some information that you were heretofore not exposed to. It's called 'The Blue Pages, A Directory of Companies Rated by Politics and Their Practices.' On the cover, it says vote with your wallet. And there are, in this text, over 4,000 listings that Carol Pott and her six friends put together. So Carol, nice to have you on the program.
Pott: Thank you for having me.
Tavis: And thank you for 'The Blue Pages.'
Pott: Thank you.
Back to April 20, 2006