WM chairman steps down amid political contribution controversy

Brad Anderson has stepped down as Houston-based Waste Management’s chairman of the board after it was disclosed that he paid $25,000 to Secure America Now in 2016, a right-wing group that distributed anti-Muslim videos on the internet, MPR News reports.

News of the payment surfaced April 5 after the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets blog broke the story. Anderson stepped down from the Mayo Clinic’s board the next day.

In an interview with MPR News, Anderson acknowledged that he paid the money to Secure America Now, which ran anti-Muslim ads intended to stoke fear in voters in the run up to the 2016 election. Anderson says that he paid the money after meeting with the organization’s president, Allen Roth. However, he contends that their conversations focused on the security of Israel and not on the organization’s anti-Muslim stance. He also noted that he wouldn’t have given the money if he would’ve known about the videos.

Following the initial news about Anderson’s payment, the Council on American Islamic Relations Minnesota Chapter urged him to relinquish his seat on several boards of directors, including Minnesota Public Radio, General Mills, Waste Management Inc. and Carlson, which he was reported to have done April 10.