“Do as I say, not as I do.” Red State is now helping shine a light on the voting history of Members of Congress by working with Heritage Action. With this innovative new system, a Heritage Action score now appears next to a Congress person’s name in Red State articles.
But, while we’re at it, here is another example that needs similar scrutinty: Delaware’s Democrat U.S. Senator Chris Coons has outsourced over 2,170 high-paying Delaware jobs to China, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland from his family’s business W.L. Gore and Associates. Yet in a bold act of chutzpah, Coons is also running for re-election by promising voters he will bring manufacturing jobs to ‘the First State.’
Nationwide, Republicans have been hammered for many years with the false and unfair accusation that American jobs are going overseas because of Republican plans. Whereas Democrat Party policies harm the nation’s business environment and drive employers out of the U.S.A., liberals come close to accusing Republicans of actually wanting and intending for U.S. jobs to be lost overseas. This is all discussed especially with regard to manufacturing jobs. Liberals discusss Republican (supposed) guilt for outsourcing jobs overseas as if there is were some actual law or regulation that Republicans enacted to send jobs overseas, which liberals would repeal if only — woe is me — they had the chance.
Incumbent freshman Coons is being challenged by Republican businessman Kevin Wade for the U.S. Senate election this November 4, 2014. Wade started his own engineering business around his modest, lower-middle-class New Castle, Delaware, kitchen table thirty years ago after a stint at DuPont, building his success the traditional way. Wade has universal support throughout all Delaware Republicans. (The Delaware Republican Party has new leadership under Charlie Copeland, but no money.)
Chris Coons’ only non-government experience is working for his step-Dad Robert Gore as in-house counsel. As past in-house counsel and the Founder’s son, Coons should have influence at W.L. Gore and Associates. If the freshman U.S. Senator could influence any manufacturing company in the world to create jobs in Delaware or return jobs to Delaware, it would be his own family’s company. Yet he is promising to persuade other companies – not his own – to help Delaware’s economy.
The economy is a major concern among struggling Delaware voters. After 4 years of [mc_name name=’Sen. Christopher Coons (D-DE)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’C001088′ ] in office, unemployment in Delaware has recently increased back up to 6.5% while unemployment is falling nationwide.
“The Outsourcer” Coons is running television ads claiming that he will return high-paying jobs to his often-forgotten State. On July 28, 2014, Coons also gave a similar speech on the U.S. Senate floor promising jobs.
But Coons’ family company W.L. Gore & Associates – based in Newark, Delaware – employs 1,200 professionals in high-paying jobs in Germany in Pleinfeld and Feldkirchen-Westerham. According to a Gore employee, Coon’s family company outsourced those 1,200 high-paying jobs to Germany, and could return those 1,200 professional jobs to Delaware.
W.L. Gore & Associates employs 470 professionals in high-paying jobs that used to be in Delaware at three manufacturing plants in the United Kingdom, in Livingston-Heather Park, Livingston-Kirk, and Dundee. Chris Coon’s family company W.L. Gore could return those 470 high-paying professional jobs to Delaware.
Earlier in Delaware, W.L. Gore closed their Otis Chapel Road plant in Newark, and moved those jobs to Shenzen, China and to Maryland. They also downsized Delaware’s Papermill Road plant and moved those jobs to Shenzen, China and to Avondale, Pennsylvania. Those two plants had 500 jobs that left Delaware. That brings the total to at least 2,170 jobs Coons’ family could move into Delaware, that we know about so far.
Chris Coons’ step-father Robert Gore (deceased) founded W.L. Gore and Associates, maker of famous Gore-Tex fabrics. W.L. Gore and Associates is not a publicly traded stock, but is owned by the children (including Chris Coons) and grand-children in trust. The Associated Press reported: “In 1996, Coons returned to Delaware and took a job as in-house counsel for W.L. Gore & Associates, which was founded by his stepfather, Robert Gore, and is the maker of Gore-Tex fabrics.”
So which canddiate would be more effective at creating jobs, any Republcian or any Democrat? Could Democrat Coons persuade other companies that are not owned by his extended family to move their manufacturing to Delaware? Delaware’s [mc_name name=’Sen. Christopher Coons (D-DE)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’C001088′ ] has not persuaded his own family’s privately-held $3 billion international business to move any manufacturing jobs into Delaware. Yet [mc_name name=’Sen. Christopher Coons (D-DE)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’C001088′ ] is campaigning almost entirely on a promise to persuade other employers to create manufacturing jobs in economically struggling Delaware. “Do as I say, not as my own family does,” so it would seem.
