Republicans rip Heinz Kerry's corporate links
Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2004 12:03 pm
Republicans rip Heinz Kerry's corporate links
April 21, 2004
BY LOLITA C. BALDOR
WASHINGTON -- Though John Kerry's wife is an heir to the H.J. Heinz Co. fortune, the food company and its executives are providing President Bush with money and a campaign issue -- jobs flowing overseas -- in this year's election.
Members of the board of the Fortune 500 company and its corporate political action committee have donated thousands of dollars to Republicans in recent years, including contributions to the Bush campaign. The corporate PAC has given nothing to Kerry.
The Republicans are accepting the cash even as they criticize the Pittsburgh-based company's job cuts and overseas moves -- part of an effort to taint the presumptive Democratic nominee with the conglomerate's business practices.
While Teresa Heinz Kerry gained much of her $500 million portfolio through her Heinz inheritance, she does not serve on the board and is not involved with the management of the company. She owns less than 4 percent of the company's stock.
During the campaign, Kerry has criticized companies that move jobs overseas, calling them ''Benedict Arnold'' businesses.
The Heinz company is trying to stay neutral, with spokesman Jack Kennedy saying the Heinz PAC gives money to both parties: ''We're an equal-opportunity condiment."
AP
April 21, 2004
BY LOLITA C. BALDOR
WASHINGTON -- Though John Kerry's wife is an heir to the H.J. Heinz Co. fortune, the food company and its executives are providing President Bush with money and a campaign issue -- jobs flowing overseas -- in this year's election.
Members of the board of the Fortune 500 company and its corporate political action committee have donated thousands of dollars to Republicans in recent years, including contributions to the Bush campaign. The corporate PAC has given nothing to Kerry.
The Republicans are accepting the cash even as they criticize the Pittsburgh-based company's job cuts and overseas moves -- part of an effort to taint the presumptive Democratic nominee with the conglomerate's business practices.
While Teresa Heinz Kerry gained much of her $500 million portfolio through her Heinz inheritance, she does not serve on the board and is not involved with the management of the company. She owns less than 4 percent of the company's stock.
During the campaign, Kerry has criticized companies that move jobs overseas, calling them ''Benedict Arnold'' businesses.
The Heinz company is trying to stay neutral, with spokesman Jack Kennedy saying the Heinz PAC gives money to both parties: ''We're an equal-opportunity condiment."
AP