LL Bean Heiress in Trouble Over Pro-Trump PAC
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Friday, January 6, 2017 12:45 PM
By: By MARINA VILLENEUVE
L.L. Bean heiress Linda Bean is in hot water with the Federal Election Commission over a political action committee she created to support Republican President-elect Donald Trump.
According to a Wednesday letter obtained by The Associated Press, federal regulators say Bean's Making America Great Again LLC was limited to individual contributions of $5,000 in a single year— and Bean contributed $60,000. The group spent $66,862 supporting Trump.
Trump won enough support in the 2nd Congressional District to split Maine's electoral votes, taking one vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton's three.
The group on Friday took steps to change its registration to a super PAC that can raise unlimited funds.
Bean is the granddaughter of L.L. Bean and a member of the Maine-based outdoors retailer's board.
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LL Bean: Boycott Over Trump Donations Is 'Misguided'
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Monday, January 9, 2017 01:06 PM
By: Bill Hoffmann
The executive chairman of L.L. Bean said he is "disappointed" that a "misguided" boycott of the iconic Maine clothier has been called for over a company heiress' alleged excessive financial support of President-elect Donald Trump.
"We were disappointed to learn that Grab Your Wallet is advocating a boycott against L.L. Bean solely because Linda Bean, who is only one of 50+ family members involved with the business, personally supported Donald Trump for President," L.L. Bean Executive Chairman Shawn Gorman said late Sunday the company's Facebook page.
L.L.Bean
15 hours ago
We were disappointed to learn that Grab Your Wallet is advocating a boycott against L.L.Bean solely because Linda Bean, who is only one of 50+ family members involved with the business, personally supported Donald Trump for President.
L.L.Bean has been a family-owned business since it began back in 1912. L.L.Bean is a values driven company that has long been inspiring people to live life outdoors. For the last 105 years, L.L.Bean has been singularly focused on offering high-q...
"Our owners, employees, and customers hold views and embrace causes that are individual and diverse … Like most large families, the more than 50 family member-owners of the business hold views and embrace causes across the political spectrum, just as our employees and customers do.
"And as every member of the family would agree, no individual alone speaks on behalf of the business or represents the values of the company that L.L. built. With this in mind, we are deeply troubled by the portrayal of L.L. Bean as a supporter of any political agenda."
Gorman added the Freeport-based company does not endorse political candidates, take positions on political matters, or make political contributions.
"Simply put, we stay out of politics. To be included in this boycott campaign is simply misguided, and we respectfully request that Grab Your Wallet reverse its position," he said.
Last week, the Federal Election Commission revealed that Linda Bean made excessive contributions to a political action committee she created to support Trump, the Portland Press Herald reports.
The heiress gave $60,000 to the Making America Great Again LLC, although the group was limited to individual contributions of $5,000 in a single year, according to the newspaper. The PAC could now face punitive action or an audit.
Linda Bean, a well-known supporter of Republican causes and granddaughter of company founder Leon Leonwood Bean, ran for the U.S Congress twice — in 1988 in which she lost the GOP primary, and again in 1992, where she won the primary but lost to incumbent Thomas Andrews.
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Donald Trump just used his presidential power to advertise L.L. Bean
By Danielle Paquette January 12 at 11:02 AM
After the co-owner of retailer L.L. Bean expressed support for President-elect Donald Trump, the future leader of the United States urged his 19.6 million Twitter followers to buy the company’s goods.
Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
Thank you to Linda Bean of L.L.Bean for your great support and courage. People will support you even more now. Buy L.L.Bean. @LBPerfectMaine
5:50 AM - 12 Jan 2017
9,443 9,443 Retweets 36,899 36,899 likes
The unprecedented endorsement came less than two hours after Linda Bean said on a talk show early Thursday that anti-Trump groups are browbeating American businesses, an effort she called “un-American.” “It’s a case of bullying,” Bean said on Fox and Friends. “I'm not going to back down. I never back down.”
Bean, a granddaughter of L.L. Bean founder Leon Leonwood Bean, contributed $30,000 to a pro-Trump super PAC called Making America Great Again LLC between August and October of last year, according to recently amended federal filings. Another $15,000 was contributed by Maine resident Diana Bean, the name of Linda’s sister.
The PAC, which also goes by Making Maine Great Again, ran a spate of TV and radio ads in the state toward the end of the campaign.
It was not until this month, however, that Linda Bean’s support for Trump burst into public view, when the Federal Election Commission alerted the group that it had erroneously formed as a traditional PAC, which can legally only accept donations up to $5,000.
That prompted Grab Your Wallet, a boycott effort against companies that carry Trump brand products or have other connections to the president-elect, to add L.L. Bean to its list. Organizers have said they will not take L.L. Bean off its website until Linda Bean is ejected from the board.
The company has asked for the boycott to be dropped, saying that the corporation has no connection to the PAC.
“We are deeply troubled by the portrayal of L.L.Bean as a supporter of any political agenda,” executive chairman Shawn Gorman posted on Facebook on Jan. 8. “L.L.Bean does not endorse political candidates, take positions on political matters, or make political contributions.”
L.L.Bean
on Sunday
We were disappointed to learn that Grab Your Wallet is advocating a boycott against L.L.Bean solely because Linda Bean, who is only one of 50+ family members involved with the business, personally supported Donald Trump for President.
L.L.Bean has been a family-owned business since it began back in 1912. L.L.Bean is a values driven company that has long been inspiring people to live life outdoors. For the last 105 years, L.L.Bean has been singularly focused on offering high-q...
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Katherine DeCelles, a Harvard business professor who focuses on ethics, said no White House leader in modern history has used his platform to hawk products.
“ It’s unprecedented,” she said, “for someone of his power voicing his support or being against particular companies.”
Federal employees are legally forbidden from endorsing private firms. Though the president is exempt from the rule and the president-elect is not a federal employee, such endorsements are largely frowned upon in America’s highest office.
In 2009, after a coat company used a photo of President Obama in an ad campaign, Ben LaBolt, a spokesperson for the Obama administration, told the New York Times that, “the White House has a longstanding policy disapproving of the use of the president’s name and likeness for commercial purposes.”
Since the election, Trump has made a practice of praising and chastising private companies. Last month, he slammed air conditioning company Carrier for moving jobs from Indiana to Mexico. He also has criticized several automakers for offshoring jobs and Boeing for the cost of its new Air Force One.
Trump’s tweets tend to spark publicity storms around his targets. Kellan Terry, a data analyst at Brandwatch, said online mentions of L.L. Bean have surged 990 percent since Wednesday, jumping from 2,200 to 22,000.
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