Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly (D.) announced that he has finalized his sale of stock in a family-owned company that outsourced jobs to Mexico, but he will hold on to the thousands of dollars in profits he earned off the company in recent years.
Donnelly, who has positioned himself as a fierce critic of outsourcing, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that he sold his stock in Stewart Superior for $17,410 on August 11. Donnelly had vowed to sell the stock in July shortly after it was reported that the ink stamp company run by his brother had shifted part of its manufacturing operation to a factory in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Donnelly's spokesman Peter Hanscom told the AP the senator would be donating the proceeds from the sale to local charities, but made no mention of what would be done with the up to $80,000 he earned in dividend payments from 2014 to 2016.
Hanscom did not respond to numerous email requests for more information on the sale.
Donnelly first made a significant investment in the company in 2013, around the same time the company told the Washington Free Beacon it shifted jobs to Mexico.
Donnelly reported no profits off the investment in 2013, between $5,001 and $15,000 in 2014 and 2015, and between $15,001 and $50,000 in 2016, according to financial disclosures filed to the Senate. All profits came from dividend payments.
Donnelly's announced sale price of $17,410 for his stock in the company indicates that his dividend payment from the company in 2016 was, at worst, nearly equal to his total investment.
Donnelly's office has not released financial information on the investment aside from what was disclosed to the Senate.
After Stewart Superior's operations in Mexico were revealed, the company scrubbed all mentions of the south of the border factory from its website.
The "about us" page previously advertised "a recently opened manufacturing plant in Guadalajara, Mexico, now brings economical, cost competitive manufacturing and product development to our valued customers." That sentence has been removed from the current site.
Donnelly has maintained his focus on outsourcing as a political issue despite the fact that he has profited off the practice.
"Joe will donate the amount paid in the sale of the stock to ten food banks across Indiana and is grateful for their continued work to serve Hoosiers in need, and is eager to continue to work across the aisle to stand up for Hoosier jobs and build support for the End Outsourcing Act," Hanscom told the AP.