Morning Read: GOP Comptroller candidate wrestles with North Country history
Republican Harry Wilson is hoping to win the state Comptroller’s job away from Democratic incumbent Tom DiNapoli.
But a major issue in the campaign is Wilson’s involvement with FiberMark, a paper and fiber company based in Lowville.
Wilson’s investment company bought FiberMark’s debt during a bankruptcy proceeding and according to the Buffalo News his involvement left many workers in the community seething.
Wilson, they contend, presided over a low point in company history after his Silver Point investment firm acquired FiberMark debt during bankruptcy.
Silver Point’s control resulted in a frozen pension, wage reductions, elimination of retiree health insurance, an imposed labor contract, and charges against the company filed by the National Labor Relations Board.
“I know that nobody who works for FiberMark will be voting for Harry Wilson,” said [Roger] Turck, president of Local 1988, United Steelworkers. “And this is a Republican county.”
Meanwhile, an industry journal called Crain’s New York Business, is arguing that the story is being used as part of a political attack mounted by the incumbent, DiNapoli.
Crain’s interviewed Buffalo News reporter Robert McCarthy.
Comptroller Tom DiNapoli is making opponent Harry Wilson’s actions in the restructuring of bankrupt manufacturer FiberMark a centerpiece of his campaign.
Latching on to a Buffalo News article published on Monday, DiNapoli rounded up workers from an upstate FiberMark paper and fiber plant to complain about the wage and benefit cuts they endured.
However, Bob McCarthy, who wrote the piece, says he “worked very hard to fairly present both sides of the story.”
The reporter notes that while he quoted the disgruntled workers, “I also recognized that Wilson had an important message.
He told me he believed [his investment firm] Silver Point’s actions saved FiberMark and the Lowville plant, and that was also included prominently in the story.”
Tags: election10
DiNapoli’s people knew that FiberMark story had no connection with comptroller’s race – AND SAVED 160 JOBS – but they issued a phony press release anyway – and had a press conference attended by reporters – none of whom bothered to do any actual reporting!
If they had, they would’ve found what Crain’s Business found – the truth. Labor Leaders present at the press conference ADMIT THAT HARRY WILSON SAVED FIBERMARK !
At the bottom of this article Labor Leader Dennis Hughes “does not argue that Wilson’s actions saved the company…”
WILSON’S ACTIONS SAVED THE COMPANY!! Why isn’t that the headline?
Behind the DiNapoli attack ( the unedited article from Crain’s business )
Comptroller Tom DiNapoli is making opponent Harry Wilson’s actions in the restructuring of bankrupt manufacturer FiberMark a centerpiece of his campaign. Latching on to a Buffalo News article published on Monday, DiNapoli rounded up workers from an upstate FiberMark paper and fiber plant to complain about the wage and benefit cuts they endured.
However, Bob McCarthy, who wrote the piece, says he “worked very hard to fairly present both sides of the story.” The reporter notes that while he quoted the disgruntled workers, “I also recognized that Wilson had an important message. He told me he believed [his investment firm] Silver Point’s actions saved FiberMark and the Lowville plant, and that was also included prominently in the story.”
The piece notes that FiberMark was in bankruptcy before Silver Point Capital got involved. McCarthy wrote, “While [Wilson] acknowledges ‘overzealousness’ on the part of FiberMark’s former management and that pain often results from corporate restructuring, he says that some of the same principles now should apply to a dysfunctional and bloated state government.”
Wilson was quoted as saying: “The reality is that, when you turn around a company, it’s painful. But pain for a few is better than everyone losing their jobs.” His campaign notes that he comes from a working-class family and that his mother worked for a factory that closed.
Politics being what it is, DiNapoli’s campaign is blaming Wilson for the lower wages and benefits, not crediting him with saving 160 jobs. Denis Hughes, head of the statewide AFL-CIO, which has endorsed DiNapoli, spoke at the press conference that DiNapoli held to press the FiberMark attack. But Hughes did not mention FiberMark.
“I’m not saying Harry did anything other than follow standard business practices in this industry, because that’s what he’s paid to do,” the labor leader says. Hughes does not argue that Wilson’s actions saved the company, but says workers should have received equity in the business to compensate for their concessions.
Asked what the FiberMark story has to do with the campaign, Hughes says: “I don’t connect it to the comptroller’s race at all. This was an illustration of business practice as we know it.”