Perdue’s corporate record under scrutiny ahead of business forum

During the 1990s, Republican U.S. Senate hopeful David Perdue was an executive for two companies that moved production overseas while taking tax write-offs for the costs of their restructuring plans.

Democrat Michelle Nunn’s campaign is slamming the actions of Sara Lee Corp. and Haggar as the two candidates prepare to share the stage Thursday at a Georgia Chamber of Commerce forum in Macon.

The attack — coupled with a harsh television ad on Perdue’s tenure as CEO of now-bankrupt Pillowtex — crystallizes a Nunn strategy to poke holes in her opponent’s business acumen. It also dovetails with Washington Democrats’ election-season push to end tax breaks for outsourcers.

Perdue, who distanced himself from the outsourcing decisions, portrays Nunn as a rubber stamp for President Barack Obama, who lost twice in Georgia. The Republican uses his lengthy, high-level business career as his biggest selling point, proof he is the candidate who knows what’s best for the economy.

But it has also provided fodder for foes from both parties since he jumped into the race more than a year ago.

Perdue was head of Asia operations at Sara Lee in 1994 when the firm announced $732 million in restructuring costs that cut its workforce by more than 8,000 jobs. Perdue's job at the well-known food and consumer goods company was to increase its Asia presence, and so he's said the job reductions in the U.S. were not his call.

Clothing maker Haggar logged at least $12 million in restructuring charges in 1996 as it consolidated plants in Texas and moved some production offshore. Perdue worked at the company as a senior vice president from 1994 to 1998, but Haggar developed long-range plans in 1990 to shrink its U.S. operations.

Companies can write off the costs of restructuring on their tax returns as a business expense. It’s not known what portion of Haggar’s and Sara Lee’s write-offs were related to overseas moves — the tax break Democrats would ban — though both firms expanded their international production after the changes.

“David Perdue’s ‘real world’ experience amounts to a career leading corporations that shipped American jobs overseas, to places like China and Mexico,” Nunn spokesman Nathan Click said. “Now he wants to go to Washington, where he’ll work to allow companies to get special tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas.”

Perdue said in an interview that the attack ignored the challenges a company faces while weighing the pursuit of profits with the interests of customers and employees. He has made boosting American manufacturing a key part of his campaign platform, and he cast blame on the “failed” record of Obama. In the past, he has cited the health care overhaul and regulation of the financial industry as part of that record.

“Here we go again. It’s the politics of distraction,” Perdue said. “We’ve talked about how the policies of the last six years have decimated entire industries right now and are sending jobs offshore.”

‘Feel-good measure’

The debate comes as Senate leaders push legislation designed to end the tax break and prop up vulnerable Democrats.

The proposal, first introduced by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., would prevent companies from deducting restructuring costs associated with moving jobs from the U.S. to another country. It also would create a new tax credit for “insourcing” — if companies move jobs into the country from elsewhere.

“Any time an American company closes a factory or a plant in America, and moves operations to another country, taxpayers pick up part of the moving bill,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a July floor speech promoting the bill.

“The Bring Jobs Home Act ends senseless tax breaks for outsourcers,” Reid said. “It ends the ridiculous practice of American taxpayers funding the outsourcing of their own jobs.”

Republicans, who blocked the bill in procedural votes in the summer of 2012 and again last month, see the move as election-year posturing. Perdue said Congress should instead focus on an overall rewrite of the tax code.

“Rather than penalizing people for going offshore, we’ve got to make ourselves more competitive,” Perdue said during a recent visit to Washington that happened to coincide with the Senate vote. “And that means that we’ve got to get our tax code looked at. Our regulatory environment needs to be reformed so our people can be as competitive as we can be to keep those jobs here.”

Stephen Moore, the chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, called the bill a “feel-good measure” that would not accomplish anything. He advised Senate Republicans to vote against it, and they did almost unanimously.

“They’re nervous about the issue,” Moore said of Senate Republicans, “because nobody wants to be in favor of companies leaving the United States. I’m not. … I’m all for bringing jobs home, but you do that by completely reforming the corporate tax system.”

Nunn, who sought for much of the year to strike a bipartisan tone, has increasingly tried to contrast her nonprofit experience with Perdue's business background. The Democrat, while highlighting her background in the volunteer world, says at campaign stops that Perdue has profited while those who worked at his firms suffered.

An awkward event

She also debuted an ad this week featuring laid-off mill workers from Pillowtex, the North Carolina firm that went bankrupt shortly after Perdue left as CEO. Perdue arrived as the company was emerging from one bankruptcy, and he has said its financial straits were more dire than he realized going in — and too difficult to repair.

Pillowtex was a rallying cry of Perdue's Republican foes during the primary season as well. As a political newcomer, he does not have a record in government to assail.

But neither does Nunn. Perdue’s camp is intent on nationalizing the race, tying the Democrat to the Obama administration. At every stop, Perdue says that a vote for Nunn is akin to a vote for the president and Reid.

Thursday’s Georgia Chamber of Commerce forum will be the first joint public appearance for Perdue and Nunn. But the pro-business bastion might not be the easiest crowd for the former Fortune 500 CEO.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston during the Republican primary and spent millions of dollars boosting his candidacy. Perdue walked out of a contentious endorsement meeting with the Chamber, and they traded attacks in the closing days of the primary runoff. Perdue also has told audiences he would not take U.S. Chamber money in the general election, even if offered.