Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel is getting plenty of grief for Target Corp.'s donation to MnForward, the big-business group trying to elect GOP gubernatorial hopeful Tom Emmer. Along the way, this has caused political reporters to look at Steinhafel's personal donations, which are overwhelmingly Republican.

But Wednesday morning, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, a DFLer, called MPR reporter Tom Scheck to say Steinhafel had given him the maximum $2,000 donation before contributing to Emmer.

That's a head-snapping switch — from Howard Dean Democrat to anti-tax Republican. I wondered aloud (on Twitter) what Rybak had done to become Steinhafel's favorite DFLer. There's also historical irony: In 2001, when Rybak first ran for mayor, he made a major issue out of the city's $60 million subsidy for Target's downtown store.

Of course, Rybak (who dropped out of the guv's race after losing the endorsement to Margaret Anderson Kelliher) is now a three-term mayor, and Target is downtown's largest employer.

A few hours after my tweet, Rybak called. He said during his governor's run, he told Steinhafel he would raise his income taxes — but not Target's corporate taxes. That pledge won him the support of many business leaders (though it helps explain why many union types refused to support Rybak at this year's endorsing convention).

Rybak also noted he supported and worked on Target's downtown efforts before becoming mayor, but opposed the sheer magnitude of the subsidy.

Rybak said he didn't support "in any way," Target's corporate donation to MnForward, but wanted to be sure the Steinhafel's full record was known. He said the Target CEO didn't ask him to call reporters; he had just heard erroneous statements that Steinhafel gave exclusively to the GOP. (By the way, I couldn't find another donation to a Democrat in state or federal databases.)

Reporters wouldn't have been able to find Steinhafel's donation to Rybak. Because the Minneapolis mayor is not running in the primary, his campaign doesn't have to file a campaign finance report until January.