Minnesota Forward is a political action group

Political action committee

In the United States, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a...

 funded by local corporations. They were "established to ensure that private-sector job creation and economic growth are at the top of the agenda during the 2010 campaign" Their mission statement says that "MN Forward is an effort by Minnesota job providers to elect a governor and state legislators who understand the importance of creating private-sector jobs and economic opportunity in our state."

As of late summer 2010, MN Forward was supporting a ticket consisting of Tom Emmer

Tom Emmer

Thomas Earl "Tom" Emmer, Jr. was a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2005 until 2011 and the Republican nominee for governor in the 2010 election. He represented District 19B, which includes portions of Wright and Hennepin Counties and the cities of Otsego, Albertville, St....

 for governor, Terri Bonoff

Terri Bonoff

Terri E. Bonoff is a Minnesota politician and a member of the Minnesota Senate who represents District 43, which includes portions of Minnetonka, Plymouth and Medicine Lake in Hennepin County, which is in the Twin Cities metropolitan area...

, Doug Magnus

Doug Magnus

Douglas Rudy "Doug" Magnus is a Minnesota politician and a member of the Minnesota Senate, representing District 22, which includes all of Cottonwood, Jackson, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone and Rock counties in the southwestern part of the state...

, and Jim Metzen for State Senate, and Gene Pelowski

Gene Pelowski

Gene P. Pelowski, Jr. is Minnesota politician and a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives representing District 31A, which includes portions of Houston and Winona counties. A Democrat, he is also a teacher at Winona Senior High School in Winona.Pelowski was first elected in 1986, and...

, Doug Wardlow

Doug Wardlow

Douglas G. "Doug" Wardlow is a Minnesota politician and a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives who represents District 38B, which includes portions of the city of Eagan in Dakota County, which is in the southeastern Twin Cities metropolitan area...

, and Kurt Zellers

Kurt Zellers

Kurt Zellers is the current Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A Republican, he served as Minority Leader of the House from June 23, 2009, until becoming Speaker on January 4, 2011. He represents District 32B, which includes portions of Hennepin County in the northwestern Twin...

 for the State House. However, the PAC, which took in $1.9 million in contributions, dedicated 97% of its expenditures towards supporting Emmer and defeating Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mark Dayton

Mark Dayton

Mark Brandt Dayton is an American politician, the 40th and current Governor of the state of Minnesota. Dayton previously served as United States Senator from Minnesota from 2001 to 2007 in the 107th, 108th, and 109th Congresses...

.

Criticism over donations

In July 2010, Target Corporation

Target Corporation

Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...

 and Best Buy

Best Buy

Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...

, among others, gave $150,000 and $100,000 respectively to Minnesota Forward. The funds were then spent on campaign ads for Tom Emmer, which provoked criticism by Human Rights Campaign

Human Rights Campaign

The Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...

, due to his positions on LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

rights.