The Walton family agenda
An introduction to the political influence of America's wealthiest family
With over 1.7 billion shares, or 43% of Wal-Mart stock, the Walton family not only wields an enormous amount of control over the company, but also is a financial and political force with tremendous influence around the globe.1 Even by Walton standards, 2008 has been a good year for the family. From November 2007 to September 2008, the stock price rose by over $21. This means the Walton family made around $35 billion off the stock price increase alone! According to the 2008 Forbes 400 Richest Americans list, the Walton family is worth over $100 billion.2
The Walton family members diversify their wealth into different holdings. The Walton Enterprises, created by Sam Walton himself in 1953 to protect their inheritance, controls various day-to-day operations.3 Arvest Holdings, the parent company of Arvest Bank and Community Publishers, Inc, controls their non-retail businesses.
Arvest Bank, which operates branches in Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, is a large regional bank, which has grown in power with the acquisition of local Arkansas banks. Jim Walton is chairman of the board and the bank "has total assets of over $9.7 billion and nearly 4,500 employees"4 Community Publishers, Inc lists three divisions of operations on its website. "...First, CPI publishes newspapers including two dailies, four twice-weeklies, 17 weeklies, and one business to business newspaper. Second, CPI is involved in Internet publishing including three online directories and web sites for all the newspapers. Third, CPI has an outstanding commercial printing division with three printing plants. There are more than 300 employees in the company. The eight senior managers and officers own 100 percent of the stock."
In addition to the bank and publishing company, the Waltons are involved with various boards, clubs and companies including but not limited to: the Northwest Arkansas Council, the Children's Scholarship Fund, Conservation International, Navteq Corporation, Rocking W. Ranch, San Diego Natural History Museum, NYC Cedar Lake Ensemble, Columbia Performing Arts Center, Kroenke Sports Enterprises, and the Playing for Change Foundation.
The family distributes their money through the Walton Family Foundation and through individual political contributions. The latest tax filing from the foundation details the distribution of funds to some interesting groups and causes. For examples, the family gave $10 million for the Crystal Bridges Museum, which is Alice Walton's personal project, and $8 million for the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.5
How do we put the Walton Family Foundations and its giving in perspective? Currently, the foundation ranks as the 19th most generous foundation in America behind the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.6 The Arkansas Democratic-Gazette notes, "Despite the record gifts, the foundation increased its assets from $1.3 billion at year-end 2005 to $1.4 billion at the close of 2006."7
While the Walton family often gives one-time contributions to causes like hurricane relief, local schools, and environmental programs, their real interests are revealed by their long-term commitments that include the estate tax, social security privatization, and vouchers programs.
The Walton family is against the estate tax because they fearing losing this control of the family's assets - specifically their Wal-Mart stock. According to the USA Today, "The Waltons have joined a coterie of wealthy families trying to save fortunes through permanent repeal of the estate tax...review of public documents reveals a small-town Arkansas family emerging as a political juggernaut on tax issues, extending Wal-Mart's influence over U.S. society even more."8 It is interesting to note that Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, two of the richest people in America, do not advocate for the reduction of the estate tax.9
As far as social security privatization, Alice Walton gave over $2 million to Progress America, a group that ran advertising on social security privatization during the 2004 presidential election. Alice Walton's donation was "Progress for America's sixth-biggest gift" and it made her "a political force to be reckoned with," according to Larry Noble, the former head of the Center for Responsive Politics.10
The Walton's' Agenda: Vouchers and Charter Schools
The Walton family members have their individual pet projects, like ranching11 and dance companies,12 but the Walton Family Foundation and the Walton Charitable Support Foundation usually fund their collective causes. For the past decade, the cause dearest to the family's hearts is reforming the country's public education system by pumping money into controversial school vouchers and charter-schools.
Since the late 1990's, the Walton's have donated millions of dollars to various causes across the country "including the start-up funding that allowed the national private-school voucher movement to get off the ground more than a decade ago."13 The two foundations also "gave at least $390 million to educational causes in Arkansas between 1998 and 2006."14 As for charter schools, the Walton Family Foundation has "provided about two-thirds of the initial $800,000 three-year pledge to start the Arkansas Charter School Resource Center."15
With so much money devoted to the school choice movement, public school supporters worry that the Walton family exerts a disproportionate level of influence in this area. Since 2000, the Walton Family Foundation donated over $47 million to the Children's Educational Opportunity Foundation, a lobbying organization devoted to weakening the public school system in America by "providing research and publications to school choice groups and submitting amicus curie briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court on voucher issues."16 The Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO), which promotes the voucher movement to African-American families, received over $3.8 million from the Walton Family Foundation since 2002.
Charter School Expenditures from 1998 - 2006
Since the late 1990s, the Walton Family has been at the forefront of the charter school movement. Over the years, they have given hundreds of millions of dollars to various charter schools and ally organizations around the country. From the Walton Family Foundation 990 forms from 1998-2006, we have identified the various charter schools who have received donations from the Foundation and have also been able to generate trends and patterns that have emerged over the past decade in this area:
- In 1998, the total amount of donations to charter schools was $1.9 million
- In 2006, the total amount of donations to charter schools was $48.2 million. From 1998-200617, there has been a 2434% increase in the Walton Family Foundation's donations to charter schools
1 Wal-Mart Stores, INC Institutional Ownership, access at http://finance.aol.com/company/wal-mart-stores-inc/wmt/nys/institutional-ownership
2 The 400 Richest Americans,” Forbes, September 17, 2008
3 Serwer, Andy. “The Walton’s – Inside America’s Richest Family,” Fortune, November 15, 2004
4 https://www.arvest.com/?page=about/arvest/history
5 Minton, Mark. “2006 Giving Sets Record for Walton Foundation,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 16, 2007.
8 Hopkins, Jim. “Wal-Mart family lobbies for tax cuts.” USA Today, April 5, 2005.
9 Johnston, David Kay. “Dozens of Rich Americans Join the Fight to Retain the Estate Tax.” New York Times, February 14, 2001.
10 Hopkins, Jim. “Wal-Mart family lobbies for tax cuts.” USA Today, April 5, 2005.
11 http://www.waltonsrockingwranch.com/
12 Kinetz, Erika. “Cedar Lake Ensemble has a new home and some old problems.” New York Times, October 22, 2005.
13 Barnett Reed, Jennifer. “The Wal-Mart Effect.” Arkansas Times, April 10, 2008.
16 “The Waltons and Wal-Mart: Self-Interested Philanthropy,” National Committee for Responsible Philanthropy, September 2005
