Nachbar's campaign responded to these allegations today in a press release featuring a couple of former Bausch & Lomb executives who praised Nachbar for his job as an executive.
A number of high-ranking business executives, including the retired CEO of Bausch and Lomb, came to the defense of State Senate candidate David Nachbar today, in response to a wave of misleading personal attacks ads. Two former execs issued statements today, in an effort to set the record straight.
According to Ron Zarella, retired B&L CEO,
"This type of attack shows how little Alesi knows about business. First, unfortunately, companies doing business in New York must deal with frivolous lawsuits all the time. This was a lawsuit that Bausch & Lomb had committed to fight. Second, Nachbar's stock sales were completely legal, reported and unquestioned by the SEC."
"It defies reason why a state Senator would attack one of the region's most respected companies and its employees."
The TV and direct mail ads were released this week by the Republican Senate Campaign Committee on behalf of Senator Jim Alesi. The ads in question used information taken out of context from a pending class action lawsuit against Bausch and Lomb, one of the area's top employers.
While at Bausch and Lomb, Nachbar was part of a leadership team that helped create over 400 new jobs. In his capacity as Senior Vice President for Human Resources, Nachbar built a strong record of accomplishments, detailed on his web site, in making the company one of the nation's best places to work.
Commenting about Nachbar's character, Dwain Hahs, retired SVP of Bausch and Lomb noted, "I worked for Bausch & Lomb for 28 years. I got to know Dave Nachbar well over the years and trust him completely."
Nachbar added today, "Alesi is upset about my demand to see results from his 12 years in office, and his 10 years as chair of the Economic Development Committee. With no record of results, Jim Alesi resorts to personal attacks. This is an example of how Albany works, and why I am running for office. We need to talk seriously about the issues that matter: creating jobs, cutting spending and taxes, and reforming Albany."
"It's unfortunate," he added, "that in their attempt to smear me, they also attacked a local employer that is one our best corporate citizens, one that has actually added hundreds of jobs to the Rochester economy. That's not very smart."
These are serious attacks against Nachbar. Of course, you always have to watch out for attacks that come from a party or attacks that are fed through the media by a party. This is what happened in this case and they should be taken with a grain of salt.
That said, Dave Nachbar is an honorable man and he is running an honorable campaign. Alesi is showing he's a desperate man.
