Steelworker Who Bashed Bain at DNC, Wed Night, Never Worked for a Company Controlled by Bain

The most surprising thing about this story is not that Democrats would trot someone out under fraudulent pretenses. This is a party without shame, after all, and it has no problem trotting out   frauds who claim to be “lifelong Republicans” either. As long as the MSM lets them do it – they do it.

That’s the surprising part of the story. It wasn’t a blogger who broke it, but a reporter for ABC’s The Note. Jonathan Carl seems to have scooped the right-wing blogosphere on this one.

The Democratic National Convention on Wednesday featured three speakers billed as “former employees of companies controlled by Bain Capital.”

They each told compelling stories about jobs lost, allegedly because of the actions of Bain under Romney’s leadership.

But it turns out one of those employees never actually worked for a company controlled by Bain Capital.

David Foster was supposedly one of those former employees on the convention schedule. He told the story about 750 steelworkers who lost their jobs when the Bain-controlled company GST steel filed for bankruptcy in the early 1990s.

“In 2001, with GST bankrupt and Romney still CEO of Bain, I stood in front of hundreds of steelworkers in their 50s and 60s, and retirees in their 70s and 80s, and told them Romney and Bain had broken their promises. Jobs, vacation pay, severance, health insurance and pension benefits that were promised — they were all gone,” he said. Read his full speech here

But Foster, according to a former spokesman for GST Steel, never actually worked for the company.

“David Foster was never an employee of GST Steel’s Kansas City plant. He was employed by the United Steelworkers of America as their regional union director to represent GST Steel, but was not employed at our facility,” according to BC Huselton, who was head of HR at GST.

Instead, Foster was a union organizer, who negotiated for workers that did work for the company.

Some additional information on Foster, via The Right Sphere:

Now Mr. Foster is the Executive Director for The BlueGreen Alliance. Just what is The BlueGreen Alliance you ask? This is from the “About Us” section on their website:

Today, the BlueGreen Alliance unites 14 of our country’s largest unions and environmental organizations. Acting together, through more than 15 million members and supporters, we are a powerful voice for building a cleaner, fairer and more competitive American economy.

Ahh, yes. ‘Fairness.’ Where have we heard that before?

Now here’s what Open Secrets says about them:

BlueGreen Alliance is a left-leaning not-for-profit organization aimed at “expanding the number and quality of jobs in the green economy.” In doing so, it has generally raised money in support of Democrats and in opposition to Republicans running for political office.

Okay, let’s see what Discover The Networks says about them:

• Progressive alliance between labor and environmentalism
• Partner of Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection

Established in 2006, the Blue Green Alliance (BGA) was created by the Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers union. It quickly grew to include also the Natural Resources Defense Council; the SEIU; the American Federation of Teachers; the Laborers’ International Union of North America; the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association; and three AFL-CIO unions — the Communications Workers of America, the Amalgamated Transit Union, and the Utility Workers Union of America. The political nature of BGA’s endeavor is reflected in the organization’s name: ”Blue” refers to the Democratic Party; “Green” refers to environmentalism.

With its national offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota and additional offices in Washington DC, BGA has expanded its operations into 7 other states — Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. With 1.3 million members, BGA aims to “transform” the American economy through greater reliance on renewable energy (wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass); increased energy efficiency; an expansion of mass transit and rail transportation; a new smart grid; residential weatherization and commercial retrofitting of buildings; and other “green” solutions to what it characterizes as the climate crisis. BGA’s four principal goals reflect its labor/environmental origins:

• “Pass comprehensive clean energy and climate change legislation [most notably, Cap and Trade] that is based on two overriding principles — the best scientific advice on reduction targets and solutions that create and save millions of American jobs.” (BGA seeks to reduce U.S. emissions by at least 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050.)
• “Restore the rights of workers in the United States to organize and bargain collectively.” [Note: BGA’s Employee Free Choice Campaign supports the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would strip union workers of the right to vote by secret ballot.
• “Establish a 21st Century trade policy that promotes growth and prosperity across all sectors of global society, and embeds enforceable labor, environmental, and human rights standards in our trade agreements.”
• “Create an informed 21st century policy on toxic chemicals that protect

Right. So the guy is a far left stooge who was masquerading as a disgruntled ex Bain employee. Anything for the cause.