Rep. Braun features a different foreign auto parts manufacturer for the third straight ad as he’s unable to hide that he made $18 million in profits last year selling cheap auto parts from China
INDIANAPOLIS – Rep. Braun’s new ad is not only a carbon copy of a three-year old ad from Chevron, but it tells the same well-known lies about his reliance on Chinese-made imports and long history of poor worker treatment.
Rep. Braun is out with a new ad today that, aside from being a remake of a Chevron ad from three years ago, is littered with the same falsehoods he’s been repeating for almost a year. He again repeats the false claim that his company is “made in America,” ignoring the reality that 30% of his suppliers are either foreign-headquartered or manufacture their products in foreign countries. He certainly doesn’t mention that he made $18 million in profit last year alone from selling cheap auto parts made in Mexico, China and other countries.
Indeed, the new ad continues a trend of Rep. Braun’s showcasing a supplier that produces its parts overseas. Rep. Braun is shown at one point pulling a series of boxes with the slogan “protection for whatever you drive,” the slogan of Covercraft. Covercraft is an auto parts producer with manufacturing plants in Australia and Mexico. This is the third straight ad that has highlighted one of the manufacturers who use foreign labor that his company’s profits are built on.
While he boasts about wages and health care, Rep. Braun continues to hide his extensive and well documented history of poor worker treatment. That history includes multiple lawsuits and hundreds of violations that allege he fails to pay employees what they’ve earned, denies them breaks, and forces them to work dangerously long hours. Additionally, the AP reported a blistering account of an employee who was fired and had his health insurance taken away while recovering from heart surgery because Rep. Braun’s company deemed him not healthy enough to work.
The ad also repeats the already debunked claims about Joe Donnelly’s brother’s business. Non-partisan fact-checker Politifact already reported that lesser claims made in an earlier ad were “mostly false.” The truth is that Joe hasn’t had an active role in the company for over 20 years. Last summer, he sold the stock he had in the company, and donated the proceeds to charity.
“The only thing Rep. Braun seems capable of ‘doing’ is selling auto parts made in China at the expense of Hoosier workers and stealing old Chevron ads,” said Michael Feldman, spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party. “His business is so intertwined with cheap foreign auto parts suppliers that he can’t help but feature them in his ads. Whether making millions in profits from selling foreign auto parts at Hoosiers’ expense or mistreating his workers and denying them pay, Rep. Braun seems to be ripping off other companies’ messages because his own isn’t one to brag about.”
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