Wal-Mart Girds for Battle on Md. Bill

The legislation is strongly backed by union officials and health care advocates, who are gearing up lobbying operations that they say will rely more on grass-roots activists than hired guns.

The Service Employees International Union chapter serving Maryland and the District gave $7,500 to support the same late October black caucus event that Wal-Mart sponsored, chapter Executive Director Jamie Kendrick said. Kendrick said the union, whose membership is 54 percent black, routinely contributes to the caucus.

As part of Wal-Mart's outreach, company representatives plan to appear tomorrow at a retreat of the 42-member black caucus. Among those likely to speak, a company representative said, is Fenimore Fisher, Wal-Mart's national director of diversity relations, who is black.

Hurst said the meeting is an opportunity for lawmakers to ask any questions they want about the company, which he said is the largest private-sector employer of blacks in the country. But leaders of the caucus said they expect the focus to be the legislation that became known as "the Wal-Mart bill" last session.

Del. Joanne C. Benson (D-Prince George's) said it will be hard to get caucus members, who voted overwhelmingly for the bill in April, to switch their votes. "More than likely, it will not happen," she said. "We are adamant that anybody who comes into Maryland ensure that people who work for them get adequate health care."

That has not deterred the company from making friendly gestures. Wal-Mart promised a $10,000 donation to help underwrite the legislative conference late last month, according to company officials and Del. Rudolph C. Cane (D-Wicomico), the caucus chairman, who was involved in discussions with a Wal-Mart representative.

"I explained to the gentleman he's not buying votes," Cane said. "I made it perfectly clear."

Several other corporations and Annapolis lobbying firms were financial sponsors of the event. Still, Wal-Mart's donation and tomorrow's meeting have made some lawmakers uncomfortable.

"I don't think the caucus needs to create the perception that we're patronizing any one company affected by a bill that we've already cast votes on," said Del. Obie Patterson (D-Prince George's).

Wal-Mart representatives said they are not targeting the caucus any more than other legislators who will give them an audience. But company critics said the tactic is part of a national pattern, citing recent efforts by Wal-Mart to court members of the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington.

"Wal-Mart's become increasingly aggressive at trying to peddle their influence, and I don't think their money in Maryland is going to buy them the love they want," said Tracy Sefl, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Watch, a national group that monitors the company.

Advocates of the bill said they feel buoyed by a recently leaked internal Wal-Mart document in which a company executive said that "our critics are correct in some of their observations. Specifically, our coverage is expensive for low-income families, and Wal-Mart has a significant percentage of associates and their children on public assistance."

The retailer, which held a fundraiser for Ehrlich last year, has said its expansion of health care options for employees includes a more affordable "value plan" in some markets. It is not clear whether that option and other changes would affect Wal-Mart's status under the Maryland legislation.

The vote in the spring fell largely along party lines, although some Democrats opposed the measure because they saw it as anti-business. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) said he does not expect additional defections.

"Any member would be very hard-pressed to change their vote based on a fat-cat lobbyist asking them to side with a big corporation," he said.