David Perdue- GA Senate Race
Following Mitch’s Money. Presentation by Doug Price on 12/14/2020
In this episode of Following Mitch’s Money, I will talk about Senator David Perdue who was elected to the US Senate in 2015 and is now involved in a Georgia run-off election with Jon Ossoff.
With a net worth ranging from $15-$45 million, Perdue is one of the wealthiest members of the Senate.
He lives in a 9,500 square foot house located in Sea Island, GA valued at approximately $4.5 million.
On March 4, 2005 billionaire mogul Martha Stewart was released from a federal prison after serving 5 months for lying about her sale of ImClone stock. She had obtained insider information.
I mention this because Senator Perdue has his share of questionable stock trades and continues to serve as opposed to going to jail.
Forbes writer (Andrew Solender) reported Perdue sold over $1 million worth of stock in Cardlytics shortly before its stock price fell, amid the departure of its CEO, and later buying back a “substantial portion” after the price bottomed out.
The Justice Department came across an email from Cardlytics’ CEO to Perdue two days before the sale warning of “upcoming changes,” but the DOJ declined to pursue charges and closed the case months later.
Remember this is Trump’s DOJ — in my opinion not the DOJ of The People.
Senator Perdue was implicated in another stock buy related to his service as the Chair of a Senate Armed Services Sub Committtee. The committee awarded contracts to a Navy supplier and according to Senator Perdue independent of this, his financial advisor just happened to buy stock in the company for Perdue prior to the announcement of the contracts.
A Perdue spokesperson told the Daily Beast that the senator “doesn’t manage his trades” and that they are “handled by outside financial advisors without his prior input or approval”.
We all know the saying “where there is smoke, there is fire.” I think John Heywood would agree that Senator Perdue was not telling the truth.
So who is David Perdue?
Perdue began his career at Kurt Salmon Associates, followed by Sara Lee Corporation, Haggar Clothing, president and CEO of the Reebok Brand. Perdue left Reebok in June, 2002 to become the CEO of PillowTex, a North Carolina textile company. The company had recently emerged from bankruptcy with a heavy debt load and an underfunded pension liability. Unable to obtain additional funding from the company’s investors or find a buyer for the company, he left the company in 2003 after nine months on the job and $1.7 million in compensation. Pillowtex closed several months later.
After leaving Pillowtex, Perdue became CEO of Dollar General. Perdue is credited for arranging the sale of Dollar General in 2007 to private equity investors KKR. He reportedly earned $42 million after the deal and Dollar General paid millions of dollars to settle shareholder lawsuits, alleging that Perdue and other executives undersold shareholders.
On December 3, 2020 a court action was filed seeking to release depositions by Senator Perdue related to court cases involving shareholder suits. This is an interesting development.
In April 2011, he started Perdue Partners, with his cousin, former Georgia governor, Sonny Perdue.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has described Perdue as having a “mixed” business record, but says that he was “known on Wall Street as a turnaround specialist who helps revive brands and reap rewards for investors.”
Perdue’s campaign paid a $30,000 fine due to violations in fundraising reports from the 2014 election. The penalty came after an FEC auditor found the 2014 campaign received at least $117,000 in prohibited contributions and more than $325,000 that exceeded legal limits on campaign donations.
In June 2016, at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference, Perdue said, “We should pray for Barack Obama. But I think we need to be very specific about how we pray. We should pray like Psalms 109:8 says. It says, ‘Let his days be few, and let another have his office’”.
I recommend that the Georgian voters “Let his days be few.” Vote for Ossoff!
Doug Price is a member/treasurer of the MMRC and a regular participant on the #MoscowMitchMonday live stream, discussing Mitch and Money. Doug is an advocate of governmental change on the State/Federal level and has periodically worked on Democratic campaigns dating back to the 80s. Follow Doug on Twitter @ PriceDoug
