McCaskill campaign notes "shocking" similarities between Brunner, Romney

In the latest "educational" news release sent out to point out the shortcomings of one of the possible general election opponents, the McCaskill campaign says that John Brunner mortgaged his family business, then used the profits to finance his Senate campaign.

As national media have a feeding frenzy over Mitt Romney’s efforts to have it both ways on his business record—claiming his record as a businessman warrants his election as President, but passing the buck for Bain Capital’s failures—shocking similarities between Romney and Senate candidate John Brunner begin to arise.

For more than a year, John Brunner has campaigned across Missouri on the false premise that he is a successful businessman and that qualifies him to be a US Senator, but a candidate profile in Sunday’s Post-Dispatch shed explosive new light on John Brunner’s actual record as CEO and Chairman of Vi-Jon.

These new details make clear that Brunner mortgaged his family’s company for $245 million and is now using his personal profit from that deal to finance his Senate campaign.

While Brunner claims he is no longer involved in the company, recently-filed personal financial disclosures show Brunner is currently serving as a Director of the company, and received a $372,000 salary from Vi-Jon in 2011 while the company laid off workers. 

But, as Brunner attempts to do his best Mitt Romney impersonation and take credit for Vi-Jon’s successes while passing blame for Vi-Jon’s failures, a new picture is quickly emerging.

A few highlights from the Post-Dispatch’s new report:

• Brunner racked up $245 million in debt as CEO, Chairman and Director of Vi-Jon before walking away from the company with a new personal fortune.
• In his first years as Vi-Jon president, Brunner nearly killed the family business, he admits, with an ill-timed expansion powered by debt. In a retreat, he sold off much of the company to pay creditors, then began a more measured expansion. In 2006, he sold a majority interest in the firm to Berkshire Partners, a private equity firm. The deal merged Vi-Jon with one of its major competitors and left the combined entity with a $245 million debt burden and a shaky credit rating. [Post-Dispatch, 7/15/12]

• Brunner claims he “doesn’t know” how much he personally profited from the sale of Vi-Jon.
• Brunner sold most of his stake. How much did he get? "I don't know what the number was," he said. Brunner retained the CEO job until 2009 and remained chairman of the board until 2011. The Post-Dispatch reported at the time that Vi-Jon had about 500 employees, compared with more than 800 that came with Cumberland. The deal left Vi-Jon at least $245 million in debt — a heavy burden. Moody's rated the debt B2, which means 'speculative" and 'subject to high credit risk." [Post-Dispatch, 7/15/12]

• While Vi-Jon’s $245 million debt was labeled by creditors as “speculative” and left the company on “shaky” ground, Brunner made a personal fortune from the deal.
• When Brunner sold majority ownership of Vi-Jon to the private equity partnership in 2006, the sale left Brunner a very rich man. Brunner's financial disclosure, required of Senate candidates, shows he and his wife are worth at least $25.5 million, and perhaps more than $103 million. Now, Brunner is personally financing his quest for the Senate. He contributed $2.24 million of the $2.64 million his campaign raised by March 31, the last reporting date. [Post-Dispatch, 7/15/12]
• NOTE: Campaign reports released after the Post-Dispatch’s Sunday report show Brunner has now spent nearly $5 million of his own money on the Senate campaign. [Post-Dispatch, 7/15/12]

• John Brunner’s claim of creating 1400 jobs is fuzzy, at best.
• Brunner is running as a job creator. "I made tough decisions, and we did what it took to bring the company back, growing it from 80 jobs to 1,400 jobs," he wrote in an op-ed column in the News-Leader of Springfield, Mo. The company now employs about 1,400, but about 800 of those employees came with Vi-Jon's merger with a Tennessee rival( as part of the leveraged buy out of his company by Berkshire Partners) [Post-Dispatch, 7/15/12] 

Brunner’s team has tried to blame anyone but Brunner for the problems at Vi-Jon, but the Post-Dispatch’s new report shows:

• Brunner was at the helm of Vi-Jon, serving as Chairman, CEO, Director and (at least) Majority Owner when the company leveraged $245 in debt to finance Brunner’s buyout.
• Brunner was serving as Chairman of the Board in the months leading up to Vi-Jon’s October 2011 layoffs.
• Moody’s specifically cited Brunner’s accrual of $245 million in debt when it downgraded Vi-Jon’s credit in Early 2012.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Like Mitt Romney, John Brunner is trying to have it both ways on his record at the head of Vi-Jon, making it incumbent upon reporters and the media to hold Brunner accountable for his failed record of leadership at Vi-Jon and ask serious questions about the validity of his claims. 

John Brunner has repeatedly said that his role as a manufacturer and CEO make him uniquely qualified to be a US Senator. Brunner’s decision to make his time at Vi-Jon the centerpiece of his campaign means that he also needs to answer for his failures as Chairman and CEO.

He cannot use his experience at Vi-Jon as his main qualification for the US Senate, then stonewall Missourians about the details of this company's records and his tenure.

OUTSTANDING QUESTIONS:

• How much did Brunner personally profit from the leveraged buyout of his family’s company?
• What, specifically, was Brunner’s role in Vi-Jon’s October 2011 layoffs?
• What did Brunner do, as Chairman of the Board, to earn his $372,000 salary from Vi-Jon while laying off workers?
• When will Brunner take responsibility for his shortcomings as Chairman and CEO of Vi-Jon, and for the crippling debt Brunner saddled Vi-Jon with in 2006 in order to walk away with a personal fortune, instead of falsely blaming his advisers and the President for his failures?