A political action committee (PAC) set
up by Nike in support of a proposed initiative that seeks to repeal
Oregon's 2004 gay marriage ban and legalize such unions in the state
has reached its funding goal.
The Washington County-based company
announced the creation of the Nike Equality PAC last month.
“We chose to set up the Nike Equality
PAC so Nike had an avenue to support campaign efforts that are
directly related to winning marriage equality in Oregon,” Nike
spokeswoman Mary
Remuzzi said in a written statement. “Also … it is important
that our company's contribution only support efforts related to
marriage equality versus other political issues or ballot measure
campaigns, and we want to offer this option to our employees as
well.”
Nike reported Friday that $100,000 of
the PAC's funding came from the company itself and another $180,000
from Nike executives and employees.
A
report filed with the Oregon Secretary of State's office shows
founder Phil Knight and CEO Mark Parker each donated $10,000 to the
fund.
Nike was also among the companies that
supported passage of a marriage equality referendum last year in
Washington state.