Date of publication: June 25, 2009

Source: Frederick News-Post

» http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=91858

Candidate's family company targeted in congressional campaign

By Meg Tully

A lawyer representing a Baltimore County label manufacturing company is warning congressional candidate Andrew Duck to stop alleging the business is involved in sweatshops.

The Baltimore law firm Blades and Rosenfeld sent a letter dated June 18 to Duck, a Democrat running for the 6th District congressional seat.

The letter states Duck, during the course of campaigning against a candidate with ties to the company, has made comments alleging The Three Amigos Inc. is manufacturing its products in "sweatshops."

Those statements are false and have no basis in fact, the letter stated.

Duck, reached by phone Monday, said he would neither confirm nor deny he had made those statements, but then raised concerns with the company's manufacturing operations in other countries.

Hampstead resident Casey Clark is expected to challenge Duck in the primary. Three Amigos is his family's business.

Clark is the vice president of sales at the small company, but is not an owner.

He called Duck's accusations "a blatant attempt for political gain."

"I was shocked, I was really shocked," Clark said. "I would hope that we would stay focused on the issues facing America, instead of putting a small business out of business."

This will be Duck's third attempt for Congress. In 2008, he lost the Democratic primary. When asked at his most recent campaign announcement how he would improve his chances, he said he planned to spend money against his primary opponents.

Clark's mother, Stevie Clark, is the chief operating officer of the company. She visits each factory before agreeing to manufacture something there, she said.

"We don't engage in any sweatshop activity," she said. "It's an out-and-out lie."

Duck had planned to make a formal announcement in the future talking about Three Amigos and said he does not have his "ducks in a row" to address the company's claims all workers are paid fair wages, work reasonable hours and are paid overtime, and that no child labor is used.

"I will clearly and emphatically state now that it is clear Casey Clark's firm located their production facilities in places where they did not have to meet U.S. labor standards," Duck said.

As a candidate for Congress, Clark is a public figure and Duck thinks the impacts of fair trade on the economy are legitimate issues to be discussed.

"If Mr. Clark does not want those things discussed, then he should either change his business practices or not run for Congress," he said.

Duck will not comply with demands in the letter, including a request to post a retraction on his webpage for 60 days. He told the Three Amigos' lawyer he would go to court to discuss the allegations if they would like.

"It appears to me that this is an attempt to intimidate me. It's an attempt to get me to stop talking about the truth, but the truth remains the truth," Duck said.

When contacted about the letter, Duck said the company's factories are predominantly in India and China.

The company has never operated in India, according to Stevie Clark. Instead, most of the factories are in South Korea and Hong Kong, she said.

"We do no producing of any kind in India, not one thing ever," she said.

After checking a map of factories posted on the company's website, Duck said he had been looking at an arrow that is near India, but admitted it might not be in India.

He asked that his statement be corrected to say that none of the factories are in the United States, and many are in China.

"If I'm wrong, I'm willing to say I'm wrong," he said.

Trina Tocco, deputy director at the International Labor Rights Forum, said she recommends all companies post a specific code of conduct on websites and requirements for monitoring those codes.

The forum is a nonprofit organization based in Washington that advocates for international labor rights around the world.

"Given that the apparel industry is dominated by sweatshops, it's important that the company be open and transparent so people have this information," she said.

The Three Amigos does not have such information posted, but she said two of the clients listed on its website, Timberland and Gap, are known for having strong codes and monitoring them.

Making claims of fair wages and decent working conditions without getting into specifics makes it difficult to judge if a company is involved in sweatshop activity, she said.

"Looking at this from an outsider perspective, if they don't have that clearly listed on their website, then how do we know what their decent conditions are?" she asked. "And how do we know that their factories know the expectations that Three Amigos has regarding labor rights issues?"