After he left as CEO of Dollar General, Republican David Perdue worked between 2007 and 2009 with a textile conglomerate in India to build up a new retail line. The enterprise did not work out for Gujarat Heavy Chemicals -- and Perdue scrubbed it from his online bio in the months before he entered the race for U.S. Senate.
"In 2007, after a major turn-around that included the sale of a Fortune 500 company, he retired to pursue international entrepreneurial interests. During the past three years, he has been involved in a start-up retail venture in India," the original biography at Perdue Partners read.
But between February and April 2013, as he geared up for a Senate run, that six-paragraph biography was replaced by a much shorter single-paragraph one that deleted any reference to India, as well as some other parts of his career, including corporate boards he's recently served on. Perdue officially launched his campaign in May.
His more robust 12-paragraph campaign biography also doesn't mention the time in India, and he has made little to no mention of it on the campaign trail. ...
Perdue's campaign provided a one-page letter sent from GHCL to Perdue in late 2007 showing he was an independent consultant and adviser reporting to the chairman and board of directors of the company. His role was to help GHCL "in its effort to develop and retail operations in India, China and other countries in the region," according to the contract. His campaign says he worked part time for GHCL, splitting his hours between India and the U.S.
It was a tumultuous time for GHCL. India's Security and Exchange Board barred its top executives -- Perdue was not among them -- from trading in the securities market amid allegations of falsifying their holding data to the public. It faced protests for its environmental practices.
Perdue spokeswoman Megan Whittemore had this to say by email:
"After retiring from Dollar General, David was a part-time independent consultant to GHCL from 2007-2009. In that role, he provided guidance on developing and starting American style retail stores along with other business opportunities. He never lived in India and only traveled back and forth. During this time, David also became increasingly involved with several board positions, which exceedingly took up more of his time. As a Georgia small business owner, David's biography was streamlined to focus on the major milestones in his 40-year business career creating jobs and revitalizing American companies."
Rosebys India, which was the retail brand Perdue was getting started, shut down in a couple years later as the recession took its toll.
Our AJC colleague Aaron Gould Sheinin caught up with Democrat Michelle Nunn on the topic today in College Park. She tied the work in India to Perdue's past in outsourcing, which has been the topic of much discussion by Democrats:
"In that deposition he talked about 16 different countries. Just not one mention of creating jobs in the United States of America. He's told you he's proud of that. The people of Georgia get to decide if outsourcing and sending jobs to other countries is the criteria they're looking for in a candidate for the United States Senate."
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