Former Whirlpool worker in middle of Lincoln and Halter fight

The latest spat between U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter involves a former employee of Whirlpool’s Fort Smith plant.

Halter is challenging Lincoln in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat.

Roby Brock, owner of TalkBusiness.net and a content partner with The City Wire, reports that a new TV ad paid for by Arkansans for Change, a labor-funded organization, targets Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s votes on NAFTA and CAFTA, but Lincoln says the ad is “a smear.”

The ad features a former Whirlpool worker, Sharon Hankins of Greenwood, who says Lincoln’s votes on the major trade bills cost her a job.

Lincoln’s campaign manager Steve Patterson released the following information from Whirlpool executives disputing Hankins’ assertion: “According to Kenny Thompson, Whirlpool Division Vice-President, the worker was not laid off when she claimed and she recently turned down an offer to return to Whirlpool because she is attending college under benefits Lincoln helped make possible.

“The former Whirlpool employee is identified in the ad as Sharon Hankins, Greenwood, Ark., who states that her job was sent to Mexico in November, 2008. Yet according to Whirlpool records, she was a good worker who was temporarily laid off in September, 2009 due to the downturn in the economy.

“Three months later, she was recalled by the company but declined so that she could continue participation in the Trade Adjustment Training program (TAA), which is subsidizing her college education. Hankins qualified for TAA when Whirlpool filed for the benefits on her behalf citing foreign market pressures from Korea. She is considered a ‘voluntary quit.’”

The Lincoln campaign called on Halter to denounce the ad as inaccurate.

“If Bill Halter has any integrity left, he would demand that his D.C. union sponsors take this deliberately false attack ad off the air,” Patterson said. “This is one more example of the reckless campaign by Bill Halter and his D.C. union allies to smear Senator Lincoln’s strong record on jobs for Arkansans.”

Link here to the full report from TalkBusiness.net, including comments from Whirlpool Vice President Alan Holaday.