The Truth About “The Truth About China”
Governor Jennifer M. Granholm’s (D, MI) re-election campaign unleashed an attack ad earlier this week, which criticized her Republican challenger Dick DeVos’ decision to layoff Michigan residents while he was president of Amway and then open a new factory in China. Granholm’s ad attempted to establish a link between these two events, something that DeVos vehemently denies and that several newspapers have labeled as false and misleading. The DeVos campaign even launched their own ad in response as well as a new web site – TheTruthAboutChina.com – to refute Granholm’s charges.
From a business standpoint, there really isn’t any connection between the Michigan layoffs and China.
From a political standpoint, however, this is largely an albatross that will continue to hang around DeVos’ for the duration of the campaign and that the Granholm camp will likely to keep using until the moment the polls close on Election Day. Whether or not there was any correlation between the two events is almost irrelevant, at least from a political standpoint.
The fact of the matter is these ads serve as a constant reminder of DeVos’ association with Amway and, in particular, that he was calling the shots at Amway. Even DeVos’ own rebuttal web site mentions the word “Amway” twice, essentially forcing him to remind voters of something that he’d be best to hope they forget.
Since its very inception, Amway has promised its network of independent distributors a chance at financial freedom by selling Amway products and recruiting others to do the same. The problem, of course, is that the overwhelming majority of Amway distributors do not make any money. They invest their time, money and energy into something and are left nothing but a few cases of soap.
Pretty much everyone in Michigan knows someone who bought into DeVos’ promises at Amway; someone who worked hard and was left with nothing but shattered Amway dreams. Mentioning Amway and DeVos’ connection to those broken promises, whether in the context of layoff in West Michigan, a new factory in China or even in a rebuttal to those charges, simply makes a sizable number of Michigan voters wonder whether or not they can trust him.
From a business standpoint, there really isn’t any connection between the Michigan layoffs and China.
From a political standpoint, however, this is largely an albatross that will continue to hang around DeVos’ for the duration of the campaign and that the Granholm camp will likely to keep using until the moment the polls close on Election Day. Whether or not there was any correlation between the two events is almost irrelevant, at least from a political standpoint.
The fact of the matter is these ads serve as a constant reminder of DeVos’ association with Amway and, in particular, that he was calling the shots at Amway. Even DeVos’ own rebuttal web site mentions the word “Amway” twice, essentially forcing him to remind voters of something that he’d be best to hope they forget.
Since its very inception, Amway has promised its network of independent distributors a chance at financial freedom by selling Amway products and recruiting others to do the same. The problem, of course, is that the overwhelming majority of Amway distributors do not make any money. They invest their time, money and energy into something and are left nothing but a few cases of soap.
Pretty much everyone in Michigan knows someone who bought into DeVos’ promises at Amway; someone who worked hard and was left with nothing but shattered Amway dreams. Mentioning Amway and DeVos’ connection to those broken promises, whether in the context of layoff in West Michigan, a new factory in China or even in a rebuttal to those charges, simply makes a sizable number of Michigan voters wonder whether or not they can trust him.
