Ann Arbor, MI – Tens of thousands of voters have been receiving shameful, automated calls from an "anonymous" source on behalf of Mike Cox's campaign and his allies. These calls distort Rick's record at Gateway with egregious claims like "corporate greed," "corruption" and attack his integrity. Other automated calls mislead voters about Rick's pro-life stance and tout Mike Cox's record. These misleading phone calls are being used to drive down turnout and turn voters away from the only job creator in the race.
"As only a desperate career politician would, Mike Cox and his allies are using every tactic possible to mislead voters with outright lies, maliciously distorting Rick's record," said campaign spokesman Jake Suski. "This is just another case of Lansing's politics as usual. Mike Cox has a long, well-publicized difficulty with honesty and transparency. Despite the glaring shortcomings of his candidacy, our campaign has always focused on our 'Reinvent Michigan' message - not false, baseless attacks.
"The focus on this election should be Michigan's economy and who is best prepared to create jobs and put the state on a path to long-term prosperity. Voters are looking for a governor equipped to handle the difficult challenges facing our state, not one who cares more about politics as usual. Our next governor must be able to work in a bipartisan manner to solve these issues. Divisive, mud-slinging politics are not helping Michiganders' solve their problems," concluded Suski.
"Rick is a pro-life and pro-family candidate. He's a strong conservative candidate with integrity and he values the sanctity of life. Attempts to say otherwise are factually incorrect attacks perpetrated by overzealous competition who will say and do anything to win," said Dr. Jerry Zandstra, President of the Michigan Pro-Life Federation. "Rick Snyder is the best equipped candidate to address Michigan's economic crisis. He has had an extremely successful career, including growing Gateway computers from a small company with 700 employees to a Fortune 500 with 10,000 employees. He has done our state a service, creating innovative startup companies here at home and across the country which have created thousands of jobs. He's the only candidate who can claim this job creation and he's the only candidate with a clear plan to turn around Michigan's economy."
Just two days ago, the Rick for Michigan Campaign released a new website, www.TruthforMichigan.com to address each unsubstantiated attack launched against Rick's exemplary record.
The following contains the lies perpetrated against Rick and includes the facts which clearly refute them:
THE LIE: " Rick Snyder outsourced thousands of jobs overseas while he was at Gateway. "
THE FACTS: Rick's record clearly shows that as an executive, his leadership helped Gateway create over 9,000 jobs in the U.S. The allegation that Rick was responsible for mass layoffs and outsourcing during his time at Gateway is false. This type of attack is just an attempt to distract people from the job creation and economic development efforts Rick has been leading in Michigan.
Rick joined the leadership team at Gateway as employee #763 and took over much of the day-to-day management as Executive Vice-President in 1991. At the end of that year, there were approximately 1,100 employees. (Joshua Hyatt, "Betting the Farm, Profile of Gateway 2000, the #1 Inc. 500," Inc. Magazine, 12/01)
In 1996, Rick was promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer because according to Gateway founder, Ted Waitt, "his leadership has become one of our greatest assets and as president, he will be in a position to utilize his talents to direct the continued growth and operational efficiencies of the organization." (Gateway 2000, Inc., "Gateway 2000 names Rick Snyder President/COO," Press Release, 1/29/1996)
Rick left his day-to-day management role at Gateway in 1997 to return to Michigan to start a venture capital fund and focus on growing innovative startup companies. At that time, Gateway had grown to 13,300 employees, with 10,600 in the U.S., and was expanding its operations globally, focusing on Europe, Asia and North America. (Gateway annual 10-K report, SEC filing, 1997)
In 2001, four years after Rick had left the day-to-day operations and returned to Michigan, Gateway found it necessary to restructure as it "struggled for profitability" due to the tech meltdown. Gateway's management chose to transition from a manufacturing to a wholesale business model, which led to an increased dependence on external suppliers. (Tom Krazit, "Cost Pressures Force Gateway To Cut Jobs," Computer Weekly, 9/04/04)
Rick was opposed to the over reliance on third party suppliers, particularly those that had workers overseas. In 2006 Rick was asked to return to day-to-day management as interim-CEO to help save the company. After assuming his role in management, he returned all the technical and customer support for customers in the U.S. and Canada back to North America, in the process creating approximately 130 jobs in the United States (Tom Krazit and Dawn Kawamoto, "Gateway Takes Support to the Heartland," CNET News, 7/13/06)
During his six-month tenure as interim-CEO, Rick opened the first manufacturing plant in the U.S. since prior management had changed Gateway's business model. Rick cited the "very capable workforce" in Tennessee as the reason for opening the plant in May of 2006. The plant created over one hundred American jobs. ("Gateway to build new plant in Nashville, Tenn.," Associated Press, 5/17/06)
Rick repeatedly spoke publicly about the importance of bringing jobs back to America:
"We think it's appropriate that Gateway people should be handling these calls ourselves," Rick Snyder, chairman and interim CEO of Gateway, said in an interview after the company's announcement. Handling more support internally allows the company's engineers to get a better feel for customer complaints, which will hopefully reduce costs over the long run through better product quality and stronger loyalty, he said. ( "Gateway Takes Support to the Heartland," CNET News, 7/13/06)
"In a return to our roots, Gateway is once again taking an innovative approach to customer service and differentiating itself from the competition with a common sense strategy that will meet customer demands," said Rick Snyder, Gateway's chairman and interim chief executive officer. "While our competitors continue to go off-shore to save service costs, Gateway is renewing its commitment to quality through investment in experienced, well-trained and dedicated support agents." ("Gateway Selects North Sioux City, South Dakota, as Home for New Best Practices," Gateway Press Release, 7/13/06)
THE LIE: " Snyder accepted a golden parachute. "
THE FACTS: Rick's leadership helped Gateway grow from a $600 million private business to a $6 billion dollar a year Fortune 500 company. His compensation as an executive at Gateway was average for that of a Fortune 500 executive. Rick never received a golden parachute. Rick always exercised his stock options in a responsible, legal, and ethical manner.
SEC records show that in accordance with the Company's 2000 Equity Incentive Plan, Gateway paid Rick an annual salary of $500,000 with non-qualified stock options for 600,000 shares, to serve as the interim CEO during the search for a permanent replacement. Rick's salary was pro-rated based on his time in the position. His options for 600,000 shares were never exercised. (Official Gateway Offer of Employment, SEC filing , 2006).
Rick's annual salary was lower than the $720,000 base salary of Wayne Inouye, and the $650,000 base salary of J. Edward Coleman, his predecessor and successor as Gateway CEO. ("Gateway Names a New Chief Executive," NY Times , 9/8/06).
THE LIE: " Rick didn't do his job on Gateway's audit committee while there were SEC investigations, DOJ investigations on misstated earnings in 1999, 2000 and 2001. "
THE FACTS: It was not the audit committee's responsibility to do the job of the internal auditors. As soon as the audit committee discovered that there had been misstated earnings, they swiftly brought in new management.
When the board discovered that management had misstated earnings, they immediately replaced the responsible executives two years before the press discovered the misstated earnings. ("Former Gateway Execs Accused of Financial Shenanigans," USA Today, 11/14/03)
The Charter of the Audit Committee clearly states that "The Committee's job is one of oversight and it recognizes that the Company's management is responsible for preparing the Company's financial statements and that the outside auditors are responsible for auditing those financial statements. Additionally, the Committee recognizes that management, as well as the outside auditors, have more time, knowledge and detailed information about the Company than do the Committee members; consequently, in carrying out its oversight responsibilities, the Committee is not providing any expertise or special assurance as to the Company's financial statements or any professional certification as to the outside auditors' work." ("Gateway Audit Committee Charter")
THE LIE: " Rick Snyder was responsible for questionable accounting practices at Gateway and he engaged in insider trading. "
THE FACTS: Rick Snyder never engaged in insider trading. In fact, while he was involved with Gateway, he sold his stocks in a regular, responsible and ethical manner. As a member of the board, when he became aware that management had misstated earnings, he immediately took swift and proper action to correct the mistake and replace the responsible parties.
When the board discovered that management had misstated earnings, they took swift action to bring in new management. "Weitzen, a former AT&T executive, and six top executives were forced out of Gateway in early 2001." The dismissal of these senior executives occurred two years prior to any press reports about the misstated earnings, which first appeared in 2003. Rick had left the management team in 1997 three years before any of these incidents occurred. ("Former Gateway execs accused of financial shenanigans," USA Today, 11/14/03)
Gateway, like any other publicly traded company, faced countless meritless lawsuits from shareholders. Frequently, the litigious trial lawyers behind these suits add the names of board members to the suits, in order to expedite settlement negotiations. Neither Rick, nor any other board member, was found liable for any wrongdoing. Rick was not named as a party in the stipulation that settled the case.
Rick exercised his stock options on a regular basis. He exercised the majority of them in order to diversify his portfolio and to invest in his venture capital efforts in Michigan. He exercised twice as many options in 1999 than he did in 2000 and exercised a similar number of options in the preceding years:
1995 334
1996 160
1997 160
1998 340
1999 800
2000 375
2001 5
All figures are 000's
THE LIE: " Rick is pro-choice "
THE FACTS: Rick has taken a firm position of being pro-life from day one. He values the sanctity of human life and he believes that human life begins at the point of conception. He opposes abortions that are not vital to the life of the mother or in cases of incest and rape.
The following op-eds affirming Rick's pro-life stance were featured in the Grand Rapids Press:
Rick Snyder Says Good Economy Will Reduce Abortions
Rick Snyder: Economic Recovery Critical To State's Social Fabric
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