Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Pride Mobility for Congress

What a Firestorm. This Pride Mobility hiring illegal immigrants controversy has all 3 campaigns firing off press releases left and right. Chris Carney and Dan Meuser both called into Corbett on WILK this afternoon. I'm trying to keep up and will post stuff as I get it.


The problem Mueser has is that his campaign slogan seems to be Pride Mobility for Congress. So every problem the company has had in the past becomes fair game for his opponents. People that I know that work there tell me it's a great workplace and they have been recognized as one of the best places in PA to work.

This is just the beginning of the airing of the dirty laundry. There is a pending sexual harassment lawsuit and the company was sued over a fire that killed a man in California that they settled because the plaintiff could prove that the company was aware of problems with the batteries in the machines that caused in fires that burnt down houses and resulted in other deaths.


TPM Cafe: Meuser's company has settled a contentious lawsuit over the death of an elderly man using their wheelchair, in which plaintiffs alleged that a defective battery caused a fire. From the Monterey County Herald, January 9, 2007: "Had the case gone to trial, according to court records and statements in court, jurors may have heard evidence that Pride Mobility was aware of at least 18 other fires in its wheelchairs and scooters with identical battery packs since 2002. Ten of those fires destroyed dwellings and five were fatal." (From Nexis).


When, if, this thing about hiring illegal immigrants blows over the Medicare fine will come into play.






The Medicare OIG fined Pride $80,000 for a kickback scheme.


What's next?


If they only took this guys advice.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Trust me, Meuser's lack of ethics haven't even begun to come to light.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone seen the kitchen sink?,

I think it's the only thing that hasn't been thrown at Dan. Really folks, why do you think that the level of venom spewed Dan's way has increased? Anyone? Could it be that he is the front runner?

I'd say there's a good possibility that is the reason.

I know Dan Meuser, I like & respect dan Meuser, he is a person of integrity, you'll have to do a lot more than this to discourage or beat him, but hey, if mud is all you got, knock yourself out.

Anonymous said...

for chirsts sake kar, if dan shit in your milk would you stir it in and call it bosco?
can this guy do anything wrong in your eyes?
fines, death, sexual harrassment sounds more like a fucking soap opera than a congressional race
what in your eyes constitutes a lack of integrity?

Anonymous said...

Gort,
I have to say, I'm a little surprised. Your blog is starting to look like an "anti-Meuser" blog. That's fine if that's what you're setting out to do but in the beginning you were objective and let everyone else hash it out. Now it's like you're orchastrating your posts along with Hackett's site and Carney's calles to WILK. It's quite a coincidence how everything happens within a matter of 60 minutes.
Pretty slick.

Gort said...

That's the news Bob. Meuser is running a terrible campaign.

Anonymous said...

Why is any of this a surprise?

These stories have been covered in the last year. Besides, Dan Meuser should deal with the direction he began. It was all fun and games when the campaign was willing to throw dirt back at the campaigns with no chance.

Don't play dodgeball to knock out the fat kid and whine to mommy when you become the target.

Meuser's campaign made the fatal error when they pushed out the minor candidates that had more in common with Hackett.

Is it just me, or is Carney "picking fights" with Meuser because he WANTS to face him in the general election?

Unknown said...

he is picking fights with Meuser because he knows that Meuser is the front runner. You go after the guy who can beat you and you team up with his primary opponent and try to knock that person out (Meuser). Carney knows the easy choice for him to face will be Hackett. Unions are going to kill him for his temp jobs. Carney and the DNCC have already attacked Meuser- That is who they are afraid of facing

Anonymous said...

Pride is the global leader of the power mobility industry, the quality leader, an FDA regulated company, and one of the “Best Places to Work in PA” for the last five years. Don’t be surprised to see it on the Fortune’s “Top 100 Best Places to Work in the USA” next year.

It is a big plus to the area that Pride is making Northeast PA the global capital of the power mobility industry. If you are successful enough to grow a small business into a global leading company (by the way that is a more than 1 in 1,000 shot), it’s only proper you point to it as an accomplishment that indicates that you are a pretty capable leader who knows how to get things done. That is all that Dan has been trying to do.

However, when you grow a company to this scale and operate it on a larger scale over a long period of time, issues will occasionally arise and you will be the target of false accusations, especially from lawyers.
Dan could have led in the building of any of the most admired companies in the world – Apple, Google, Toyota, etc – and the minions of Hackett & Carney would have a countless number of half-truths to sling at him. Would it mean that those companies are bad organizations? Of course not. So please, could we get a little context here? The idea that Pride is a bad company because of the issues and allegations mentioned on this site I ludicrous. Gort, you said it yourself in your post, “People that I know that work there tell me it’s a great workplace.” By the way, if you don’t believe them, go ask the many Pride retailers located throughout the 10th District. They will tell you the same thing – great products, great service, great people. There are no maybes about it, Pride is the class act of its industry and they will tell you so.

Now with regard to the issues & allegations, they are being misconstrued and they all can be answered. Pride is a company that operates with integrity 100% of the time. Pride’s legal counsel for the past 20 years, Joe Burke, is one of the most respected lawyers in Northeast Pennsylvania. He demands total integrity from Pride. The campaign obviously chose not to supply these answers to this site. To the extent that they become issues that are clearly important to the people of the 10th, I am hopeful that they will. I will concede one point to you. If they (Hackett & Carney) can manage to make Pride Mobility Products look like a bad company, no question, Dan will have run a poor campaign.

Anonymous said...

perhaps dan should stop using pride to run for office and run as dan meuser. most commercials can't be differentiaed between him and the company.

gort let's start a pool, how many months after the election will the outsourcing start?????

Anonymous said...

yo anon 3:41 not just months, how about we through in country, mexico, india or china