Republican Eric Hovde Invested Millions In Companies That Outsourced Jobs From Wisconsin

U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde addresses the audience at a campaign rally on Aug. 20 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Andy Manis/Getty Images As both a fund manager and an individual investor, Eric Hovde, the Republican Senate nominee in Wisconsin, put millions of dollars into three companies that shipped jobs out of Wisconsin in favor of cheaper locales. Hovde, a co-founder and former CEO of the asset management firm Hovde Capital Advisors, is challenging Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) in November. Advertisement In Hovde’s quest to win in a state where manufacturing jobs remain a critical, if greatly diminished, part of the economy, he has spoken wistfully about the flight of U.S. manufacturing jobs to foreign countries with cheaper labor and lower regulatory standards. “Whole industries over the last 20 years have moved away to China, to India, to Mexico, all over the globe.” But prior to entering politics, Hovde invested millions of dollars in firms that laid off hundreds of Wisconsin workers, moving production to Southern states with cheaper labor costs and, in one case, to Mexico. Advertisement At the end of 2008, Hovde Capital reported an investment of over $15.2 million in NCR Corp., which makes ATMs, according to a disclosure Hovde Capital made to the Securities and Exchange Commission at the time. In January 2009, NCR announced it would close a manufacturing plant in Viroqua, Wisconsin, laying off 81 employees. The company moved production to Morristown, Tennessee, where manufacturing workers earn less, and offered laid-off Wisconsin workers the opportunity to apply for an indeterminate number of openings in the new plant, local media reported at the time. At the end of the first quarter of 2009, Hovde Capital reported to the SEC that it still had nearly $9.8 million invested in the company. Larry Fanta, who was mayor of the 4,400-person city at the time, called the plant the “backbone of the city,” in an interview with the Vernon County Times. “Obviously this is a tremendous blow — for the people who’ve worked there for a number of years and for the city in general,” Fanta said. “There’s probably not a person who lives in the city who doesn’t know somebody who works at NCR, or actually has a member of the family, a cousin, or some relative, working at the plant.” Advertisement Hovde Capital also invested in two manufacturing companies shortly after they’d laid off Wisconsin workers to outsource production jobs. Hovde Capital reported a $4.5 million investment in Briggs & Stratton, a pressure washer and generator manufacturer, in the third quarter of 2010, according to its SEC disclosure form for that period. Less than half of the affected workers had the opportunity to apply for jobs at a Briggs & Stratton plant in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. “I’m not happy,” Watertown Mayor Ron Krueger told the Wisconsin State Journal at the time. “It’s a blow to the entire county.” And though Briggs & Stratton did not ship the jobs to a production facility overseas, some of the same forces driving offshoring spurred the company to close the plant: 39 of the workers displaced by the Jefferson plant closure were able to access Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits for workers negatively impacted by global trade. Advertisement “These were passive investments in publicly-traded companies and Hovde Capital had no operational involvement or control.” – Ben Voelkel, spokesperson, Eric Hovde for Senate campaign Finally, Hovde reported owning a stake in two hedge funds that invested in Polaris Industries, a snowmobile and off-road vehicle manufacturer, that shipped jobs out of Wisconsin. As an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican Senate nomination in June 2012, Hovde reported owning two hedge funds, Financial Institution Partners III and Financial Institution Partners IV, each worth $1-5 million. Financial Institution Partners III generated $100,001-$1 million in investment income for Hovde, and Financial Institution Partners IV generated $15,001-$50,000. Both funds had invested in Polaris Industries, though at the time of the disclosure, Hovde reported those investments as being worth $1,000 or less. In May 2010, Polaris announced it would be shutting down its snowmobile factory in Osceola, Wisconsin, moving the plant’s 515 jobs to Iowa, Minnesota and Monterrey, Mexico. “It’s the people that are going to lose their homes, not be able to pay their rent ― that kind of thing,” local bar owner Steve Meyer told Minnesota Public Radio in May 2010. “These baseless attacks are ridiculous,” Hovde spokesperson Ben Voelkel said in a statement. Baldwin and her Democrat allies hurt Wisconsin workers every day by supporting policies that increase inflation, raise taxes and make Wisconsin’s business climate worse,” Voelkel continued. Hovde, who is worth between $195 and $565 million, has already faced attacks from Democrats for spending much of his time in recent years in Orange County, California — where Sunbank, which he currently chairs, has a large presence. “It’s no surprise that a greedy California bank owner like Eric Hovde invested in companies that laid off Wisconsin workers,” Arik Wolk, a spokesperson for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, said in a statement. “Hovde has no respect for the hardworking people of Wisconsin, he only cares about helping himself get even wealthier.” Advertisement Baldwin, a former Madison-area House member who is seeking a third term in the Senate, has long emphasized her support for local manufacturing jobs. As of late July, she had spent nearly $30 million with over $6 million left over, while Hovde had spent nearly $14 million with more than $3 million remaining. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/eric-hovde-outsourcing-wisconsin-senate-race_n_66d74a0de4b0830f6e92794f