Hillary Clinton blasted a planned corporate inversion between Johnson Controls and the Ireland-based Tyco as more of a "perversion" than an "inversion," but failed to mention that the company she is calling perverted has donated more than $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation.
Clinton has called the merger between the companies "outrageous" and said on Wednesday that she thinks they should change the name from corporate inversion to corporate perversion, according to a reporter on the campaign trail.
"It's called an in-version. I think it should be called a 'per-version,'" Clinton says of Johnson Controls-Tyco deal
— Monica Alba (@AlbaMonica) January 27, 2016
American-based company Johnson Controls announced plans this week to buy Tyco for $16.5 billion, which it says would allow the companies to save $500 million in taxes over just three years.
Clinton said that the decision by Johnson Controls would "leave American taxpayers holding the bag" and offered plans to block it.
What she did not say is that Johnson Controls has contributed to the Clinton Foundation as recently as the third quarter of 2015 and has partnered with the Clinton Global Initiative on numerous projects since 2008.
In 2013, for example, Johnson Controls was involved in a $5 million CGI project to advance women-owned businesses in new markets across the world. In 2008, Johnson Controls partnered with CGI on a $110 million project to launch The Center for Community Renewal in Shreveport, La.
In 2009, Johnson Controls was part of a $930,000 CGI project to help train small companies on best practices in low-cost energy efficiency. This Johnson Controls partnership was "scaled up" in 2015, according to an updated summary page for the company's commitment to action.
Speaking out against corporate inversions is no new thing for Clinton on the campaign trail.
She announced her plan to stop companies from the practice by implementing an "exit tax" that would stop companies from "gaming the tax system."
A week later she traveled to Nebraska for a campaign event with billionaire Warren Buffett, who provided the $3 billion for Burger King to purchase Tim Hortons and move its corporate headquarters to Canada.