BISMARCK, N.D. (KFGO-AM) — A new study shows that retail giant Wal-Mart gave $9.3 million to try to pass a North Dakota ballot measure last November that would have allowed the company to open pharmacies in the state.
The figure is part of an analysis released Thursday by the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity. It found that corporations and trade groups gave at least $217 million to sway the outcome of state ballot measure and referendum campaigns during the 2014 midterm elections.
North Dakota voters rejected the pharmacy ballot measure, which would have repealed a 1963 law banning chain retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target from operating pharmacies.
Voters sided with small, pharmacist-owned drug stores and their allies who raised a fraction of Wal-Mart's total.