Richard Gellman (previous reports listed his last name as "Gillman"), the owner of Republic Windows and Doors has come forward to blame Bank of America (again) for the company's demise. Gellman alleges that earlier this year Bank of America decided to "liquidate" the company even though he had lined up investors to finance a cash purchase of an Ohio company. This purchase, according to Gellman, would have allowed Republic Windows and Doors to earn a $3.5 million profit.
Of course, Gellman's latest "victim impact statement" does not disclose the terms of this alleged cash infusion and how it would have affected the company's ability to service its debt with Bank of America. Instead, he just blames the bank for the company's failure. But if the company was already having trouble paying Bank of America, the bank probably had legitimate concerns with the introduction of new creditors and a potentially risky investment. A reasonable creditor could consider an investment on the higher side of risk if it were the sole plan the debtor offered to generate a profit and pay its bills. Divorced from preexisting emotions concerning bailouts and banks, the emerging facts still indicate that the company was on the skids and that Bank of America made a rational banking decision.
Gellman also provides new dirt for analysis: The employees in the Iowa company are not unionized. Basically, Gellman has discarded his unionized workforce in Chicago, quietly opened a new company in Iowa that conducts the same business, used big Chicago politicos to shame Bank of America into paying Republic's labor obligations, and will now run a cheaper business with a nonunionized workforce. Progressives, however, continue to center their analysis and criticism on Bank of America.
Gellman denies being a union-dumper, however, and he says that the union issue did not influence his decision to move to Iowa. Gellman, on the other hand, does confirm an argument I have made in previous blog entries. He says that the relatively cheaper cost of operating the business in Iowa versus Chicago indeed impacted the decision to relocate. So the drama continues. Personally, I find Gellman about as credible a figure as Blagojevich.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
Related Readings on Dissenting Justice:
* MADE IN IOWA: Did Company in Chicago Sit-In Illegally Discard Its Workers and Quietly Relocate While Liberals Forced BOA to Pay for the Shady Scheme?
* Republic Windows and Doors Received a Bailout from Chicago Before It Bailed Out of Chicago
* Laid-Off Republic Windows and Doors Workers: Pawns in Political Football
* Factory Closes in Chicago; Workers Invoke Bailout During Protest
* What (I Think) Progressives Should Have Done for Workers of Republic Windows and Doors
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