Opinion

The gift of Walmart

Let’s see if we’ve got this straight.

Walmart is evil because it donates “dangerous dollars” to our city’s food pantries. David Koch is a villain for donating to New York Presbyterian Hospital for a state-of-the-art ambulatory care center.

But City Council members are virtuous when they take dollars out of your pockets to make donations that promote themselves.

This is the wacky logic of a letter sent to Walmart and signed by more than half the council. Here’s the message: “Stop spending your dangerous dollars in our city. That’s right: This is a cease and desist letter.”

Remember, these politicians are denouncing $22.5 million in donations by Walmart and its foundations to charities across this state, some $3 million of which has gone to the city.

The money goes to food banks, job-training for women, Goodwill and public schools where kids actually learn: charters.

Back in November, Gov. Cuomo looked at these same donations.

He characterized them very differently from the council: “Thanks to the generosity of Walmart, PepsiCo and FreshDirect,” the governor said, “more than 3,000 New York families in need will be receiving a Thanksgiving meal this week as the National Guard begins deliveries to communities today.”

Of course, what’s really driving the City Council is the fear — egads! — that Walmart might actually open up a store here.

And we all know what that would mean. New Yorkers would get jobs there. Shop there. And have more money for their families because of Walmart’s low prices.

At a time when the governor is trying to sell the rest of the nation on the idea “New York is open for business,” Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and her fellow council cuckoo-birds are working overtime to keep out America’s largest and most popular retailer.

Even by the low standards of our city legislature, this is nutso.

A City Council truly working in the interests of ordinary New Yorkers would send Walmart a thank you for its charity — and an invitation to come set up shop.