I should have known. Is there anything this man says that is actually true? Are we sure his name is really Dick? Someone might want to check on that...
LANSING -- Dick DeVos recently released the latest in his series of misleading television ads. The ad features Grand Rapids businessman Jim Zawacki, whose business is growing rapidly despite an uphill battle against the Bush Administration’s policies of unfair trade.
The DeVos ad script implies that Zawacki’s business is having trouble growing, but the truth is that Zawacki’s company has been expanding recently. On August 8, 2005, the Grand Rapids Business Journal reported that “Zawacki’s firm has grown by 100 people in the past year alone.”
The company’s future prospects are bright. On July 24, 2006, the Grand Rapids Business Journal reported that Zawacki’s Grand Rapids Spring and Stamping was granted a city industrial tax abatement worth an estimated $55,000 to invest $1.2 million in a new 1,000-ton Verson press. At the time, Zawacki said, “Our largest press used to be 600 tons, so this gives more tonnage and a bigger bed press so we can do bigger things.”
“I am surprised Jim Zawacki doesn’t want to do a television ad in support of Governor Granholm,” said Granholm Spokeperson Chris De Witt. “She is pleased that his business is expanding in Michigan, and she agrees with him that unfair trade is hurting our manufacturers’ competitiveness.”
The ad script blames the state bureaucracy and state tax system for Zawacki’s supposed inability to grow. Just a few months ago, however, Zawacki was singing a different tune. On April 18, 2006, he told National Public Radio’s All Things Considered that Chinese currency manipulation was preventing his company from growing past 400 employees. In that interview, Zawacki said, “I'm not smoking pot, nor have I ever, but the point is that we would easily be over 800 people.”
This wasn’t the first time Zawacki cited foreign trade as an impediment to the growth of his business. In May of 2005, Zawacki told the Grand Rapids Business Journal that his company was losing business to companies and China and Korea, saying “there are so many unfair things that are going on related to trade.”
This reminds me of a quote from a certain someone-
"Dishonesty can also be withholding information that is important to another, particularly if that information is required to make an informed decision. People who are not told the truth cannot make good decisions. In fact, they can be led to make incorrect conclusions."
-Dick DeVos, "Rediscovering American Values".
Apparently Dick was describing his future ad campaign and he didn't even know it. Or, maybe he did.