Rep. Braun still has plenty of questions to answer about the AP’s scathing report on his business record

INDIANAPOLIS – Since Rep. Braun hasn’t answered any questions about the bombshell Associated Press report on Tuesday that exposed his business’ long rap sheet of poor worker treatment and history of outsourcing, we decided to give him a few.

Rep. Braun has decided to stake his Senate bid on the claim of running a successful business, but after the AP’s report, it’s increasingly clear that he’s run his business in a disastrous way that puts his own profits first and flies in the face of his campaign rhetoric. From pledging to help bring jobs back from overseas while relying on Chinese labor instead of Hoosier workers, railing against subsidies while his company took them, and claiming he’d stand up for the little guy while racking up workforce violations – it’s clear that the person Rep. Braun portrays on the campaign trail is far from the self-interested businessman he’s actually been throughout his career.

As the primary comes to a close on Tuesday, Rep. Braun can’t expect Hoosiers to vote for him in good conscience until he gives a full accounting of the ways he’s distorted his business record.

Here are 5 questions Rep. Braun needs to answer about the AP’s story:

1. You claimed politicians were putting “Beijing over Bloomington” when authoring bad trade deals. Why should Hoosiers believe your criticisms when you’ve done more harm to Indiana workers by importing Chinese parts than many of the politicians you criticize?
2. How can any Hoosier expect you to have their back in the Senate when – as demonstrated by multiple lawsuits and violations for worker mistreatment – you clearly have not had your employees’ backs as their boss?
3. You’ve been critical of corporations who receive government subsidies, but how is that criticism not hypocritical given your own business is a recipient of the same kind of government subsidies you rail against?
4. How can voters believe you want to crack down on outsourcing when you’re funding your Senate bid with millions of dollars you’ve made importing auto parts from China and Mexico – practices that likely displaced Hoosier workers?
5. It’s clear that you legislated in the Statehouse in a way that put your own profits first and Hoosiers last. Will you pledge if elected to the Senate that you will abstain from voting on any issue that would affect your own bottom line, including auto parts?

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