Michelle Nunn's campaign is shinning a light on David Perdue's golden parachutes. The TV spot features people (mainly women) from a small NC town, criticizing Perdue's huge compensation from Pillowtex as the company floundered and 8,000 jobs were lost.
The National Journal has analysis.
research Ace Metrix conducted for National Journal shows just why ads like this work. The data suggest that while the Nunn ad isn't quite as potent as the anti-Romney one, it's grabbing hold of Georgians' attention just as their Senate race starts to heat up
[snip]
among just independents (who represent a fairly small sample of the group, Symonds cautioned), the new anti-Perdue ad got the highest scores of any Georgia ad Ace Metrix tested.
Here's the add
Ace Metrix's analysis of the Nunn ad also showed that it did particularly well with women and low-income voters, two groups that the Democrat desperately needs to turn out in November if she is to capture a Republican-leaning Senate seat.
--more below--
In 2004, the Charlotte Observer published a series about the demise of Pillowtex. Part 3 focused on Perdue. In summary:
Perdue failed to persuade Oaktree or other investors to put in more money.
Where's Perdue?
A common refrain began to echo down the halls at Pillowtex headquarters. "Where's Perdue?"
He rarely appeared in Kannapolis and hardly ever returned e-mails...three executives say. He never bought an N.C. home and still lived in Boston.
Some colorful details:
Perdue's absence, internal auditor Wayne Keirn says, "was terrible for morale. We felt he'd given up."
The industry also took note. In December 2002, trade publication HFN ran a list of satirical holiday gifts for textile executives. Perdue's gift: "Directions to 1271 Avenue of the Americas," Pillowtex's New York address.
Behind his back, some employees began calling him "Oz, " the seldom-seen wizard.
Perdue's golden parachute:
Perdue's sudden departure angered some headquarters employees, who saw him as abandoning the company in a crisis.
Perdue received no severance. In nine months at Pillowtex, he had earned nearly $1.7 million in salary, bonus and signing bonus. The stock he got for joining the company was now worthless. Still, he was the highest-paid home-furnishings boss during that time, a survey by Home Textiles Today found.
That's it from the Charlotte Observer's story. Here's an excerpt from the above referenced survey by Home Textiles Today (which is a top result if googling "
David Perdue Pillowtex")
Final irony: Perdue highest paid in '02
Lending a final, almost surreal coda to the collapse and demise of Pillowtex Corp., and the attendant loss of roughly 8,000 jobs, the highest paid executive in the entire home fashions industry last year, pulling down $2.4 million, was David Perdue. The former chairman and ceo of Pillowtex jumped ship after just 10 months on the job, taking with him a substantial signing bonus that lured him to the company he ultimately spurned.
For the short time he was on the job, Perdue took home a cash salary of $313,000, and another $2.1 million as a bonus from a company that never made money on his watch.
As if to suggest that failure pays better than success, in striking contrast the second highest-paid executive during 2002, taking home just half as much as Perdue, 1.1 million, was Jeffrey Lorberbaum, the president and ceo of Mohawk Industries, one of the most successful, and profitable, companies in the industry.
Final thoughts. Perdue ran Pillowtex, which was based in North Carolina, while living in Boston. Sounds a bit elitist and aloof. It reinforces Perdue's elitist nature as also evidenced by his disparagement of Karen Handel's high school level education.
Also in the above video, Perdue brags about having lived abroad...as a candidate for elected office from Georgia. More important (obviously), is that:
According to census statistics, only 27.8 percent of Georgians over age 25 hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 84.4 percent have a high school diploma....Perdue's boast may tell them they're not smart enough for higher office.
- National Journal, 4/3/14
The Nunn campaign's TV spot shows a real willingness to highlight Perdue's negatives. There's plenty of fertile ground left.