LANSING – Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder said Friday that he did not remember whether the Gateway Board of Directors, while he was a member, voted on the company’s decision to outsource a portion of its U.S. operations to China.
Snyder, Gateway’s former CEO, said on Michigan Public Television’s “Off the Record” that the company did not outsource jobs to China while he was CEO, but it did so when he served on the company’s board. He’s made similar statements in the past. He added Friday that he disliked the outsourcing decisions and said when he became interim CEO in 2006 he moved to bring back some jobs to the United States.
But asked whether the board had voted on the outsourcing decisions, Snyder said, “Actually, I don’t recall. … I was on the board for 15, 16 years.”
Pressed on how he could not remember whether the board had voted, Snyder said, “I spent many years on the company.”
The question of outsourcing jobs to China is particularly sensitive because of the damage similar charges did to Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos in 2006 in regard to his leadership of Amway.
Snyder also was confronted with documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission, signed by him in his capacity as Gateway CEO or as a board member, stating the company had outsourced operations to Asia. Snyder said the documents from his time as CEO reflected outsourcing that had occurred while he was a board member.
“When I was managing the company, we did not outsource jobs to China,” he said. “When I came back as interim CEO, I brought jobs back to the U.S.”
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