Working '4' Working Americans >

30 sec. TV ad run in IA approx. Dec. 19, 2007.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[Music] Male Announcer: A home and a good job.  The American Dream started in towns like Newton, Iowa with companies like Maytag.  This October, Maytag closed its doors forever.

Eighteen hundred jobs lost while our government gives tax breaks to companies that move jobs offshore.

John Edwards knows the Maytag closing jeopardizes a way of life.  He says its time to end tax breaks for companies that move good jobs offshore.

Give voice to your values.  Tell John Edwards he's right. 

Paid for by Working for Working Americans and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

 

 
Notes: Does an ad like this really help?  Viewers will likely wonder what exactly Working '4' Working Americans is, the visual presentation seems low-budget and the action requested, "Tell John Edwards he's right." seems silly.  In fact an ad like this may even hurt.  See press releases from the Richardson campaign and the Edwards campaign below.
 
PRESS RELEASE from Richardson for President
December 19, 2007.
Deceptive 527 ad touting John Edwards and Maytag closure attempts to mislead Iowans

CONTACT: Jim Farrell 

(Des Moines, IA)—Richardson for President’s Iowa State Director today called foul on a highly misleading TV ad that is now running in Iowa, paid for by a 527 group called “Working ‘4’ Working Americans”. The ad promotes John Edwards for President, stating that he “knows the Maytag closing jeopardizes a way of life. He says it’s time to end tax breaks for companies that move good jobs offshore,” and urges viewers to call Edwards to tell him he is right. 

“Iowans who are now making up their minds about who to support in the Democratic caucuses do not need these shadowy 527 groups coming in with half-truths and distortions,” said Robert Becker, Iowa State Director for Richardson for President. “This ad ignores the role played by a certain hedge fund in the closing of the Maytag facilities in Newton, IA, which cost 1,800 Iowans their jobs. John Edwards was paid nearly half a million dollars by the same hedge fund at the time the Maytag plant was shuttered, and he had $16 million of his own fortune invested there. Can John Edwards be a champion for jobs in Newton, Iowa when he works for and invests in a hedge fund that helped eliminate those same jobs? If anything, Edwards probably owes those families an explanation.”

See the ad: http://www.w4wa.org/trade_ad.htm 

Edwards took a job in October 2005 with the hedge fund management firm, Fortress Investment Group, that paid him $479,500 for 14 months of part-time work. Additionally, Edwards invested some $16 million in Fortress funds. 

Fortress owned shares in Whirlpool when the Iowa Maytag factory was closed. On 31 March 2006, while Edwards was a consultant for Fortress Investment Group, the hedge fund owned 9,867 shares of Whirlpool stock. On that same day in 2006, Whirlpool finalized its deal to acquire Maytag. Less than two months later, Whirlpool announced that it would close the factory in Newton, laying off the workers there. 

SEC filings from 31 March 2007 show that Fortress had purchased more than 74,000 additional Whirlpool shares after the deal to buy Maytag was completed – a deal which led to the loss of 1,800 Iowa jobs. Fortress was invested in Whirlpool while it was closing factories in America. 
 

PRESS RELEASE from Edwards for President
December 22, 2007

CONTACT:
Dan Leistikow

EDWARDS: STOP THESE ADS

Edwards calls on 527 groups to stop running ads

Des Moines, Iowa – Today, after an event in Coralville, Iowa, Senator John Edwards called on 527 groups to stop running ads: 

“I do not support 527 groups. They are part of the law, but let me be clear: I am asking this group and others not to run the ads.  I would encourage all the 527s to stay out of the political process.”

Earlier in the day Edwards said:

“I’m proud of the fact that, unlike Senator Obama, I have never taken any money from a Washington lobbyist or PAC.  From my perspective that is not an academic or philosophical question.  This is about who has the toughness and fight to take on corporate greed and win.  And I have been doing it my entire life. And what we have is an epic fight in front of us to stop this corporate greed and to protect the middle class and jobs in this country. And that’s a fight I’m ready for.”

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