You see the epithet "Ketchup boy" on right wing websites, and even many liberals believe that the Heinz corporation is a Kerry liability. Not true. Neither Kerry nor his wife, Theresa Heinz, are connected to food manufacturing giant in any significant way, nor does it appear that Heinz is really outsourcing
Thanks to Ted Welch on SPJ-L for pointers to:
Online world wonders: If Kerry wins, will Heinz (the company) benefit?
Not likely, real-world observers respond
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
By Teresa F. Lindeman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
In the real world, the first lady contender has little financial connection to Pittsburgh's H.J. Heinz. She was married for 25 years to a member of the founding family, Republican U.S. Sen. John Heinz, until his death in a plane crash in 1991.
She chairs the Heinz Endowments, which still own stock but not enough to meet the 5 percent ownership threshold that requires notifying the Securities and Exchange Commission.
There's been no Heinz family member involved in the management of the business since the late 1980s, said company spokesman Jack Kennedy. And the family drastically reduced its holdings in 1995 in a secondary stock offering.
Even the Heinz Co.'s foundation is separate from the Heinz family endowments.
While the Federal Election Commission's Web site listed a $2,000 contribution on Dec. 31, 2003, by Teresa Heinz Kerry to the "John Kerry For President Inc." cause, it also lists a $5,000 contribution on June 3, 2003, to "Bush-Cheney '04 Inc." by the H.J. Heinz Co. Political Action Committee.
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at Instant Pundit Glenn Reynolds writes:
OKAY, MAYBE I'M WRONG: Maybe outsourcing won't be such a big election issue after all:
Here's an excerpt from one email, from reader Eric Hoffstein:
The Heinz company is hardly the 'Kerry family business.' Kerry's current (and 2nd) wife is the heir of Penn. senator John Heinz. That is, she only inherited part of Heinz interest in the Heinz family trust, which, while it does have some holdings in Heinz, is not related or a subsidiary or partner of Heinz Co. Kerry's wife is not on the board of Heinz nor does she currently hold any position with the company. Therefore, while Kerry's wife has what could be perhaps considered an indirect relationship with Heinz, she has no control or influence over their business decisions--presumably Kerry, as the second husband, has even less.Posted by jules_siegel at March 22, 2004 09:30 AM | TrackBackFurther, to Heinz's credit, they are widely considered to be an"employee friendly" employer and have instituted a sort of code of good conduct to apply to all their employees, including foreign ones. They do have foreign plants but they are not "outsourced" plants--companies in the food biz have to localize their production to some extent, especially where some fruits and vegetables are concerned.