MADISON, Wis. — Responding to allegations she was fired from her family’s firm in the 1990s, Mary Burke now says she was a victim of downsizing at Trek Bicycle Corp.
“We reorganized and eliminated the position that I had, and I left that organization in charge of two other people who reported directly to the U.S,” said Burke, the Democratic candidate for Wisconsin governor, who was running the country’s division in Europe at the time.
Burke is running against incumbent Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, in Tuesday’s election.
Burke was responding Wednesday to claims by multiple former Trek employees that she was fired from her family-owned business over poor performance and conduct issues.
She characterized the report as “ridiculous” and told repoters on Wednesday the story was nothing more than a “desperate” attempt to “undermine my credibility based on no evidence at all.”
But the former high-ranking Trek executive, who asked not to be identified because of fear of reprisals, stuck to the story. “There was no reorganization,” the former executive said.
Multiple sources have said Burke was fired in 1993. But before she left, her family forced her to return to the Waterloo-based bike maker’s headquarters to apologize to about 35 managers for her treatment of employees and for the company’s plummeting European bottom line.
“She never made money in Europe when she was there …. Germany was gushing blood, and it would take profitability from everywhere else,” said another former employee, who also asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.
Gary Ellerman, who served as Trek’s human resources director from 1992 until 2004, recalled there was a “dark side to Mary that people at Trek have seen.”
“She can explode on people,” he said. “She can be the most cruel person you ever met.”
Mercurial, too, it seems. Sources said Burke decided to move Trek’s European headquarters from Frankfurt, Germany, to the Dutch port city of Amsterdam because she didn’t care for the German people and because Amsterdam better reflected her lifestyle.
The Republican Party of Wisconsin on Wednesday made a little political hay on Burke’s statement that her job was “eliminated.”
“You’d have to be a disaster to be let go from your family business,” said Joe Fadness, executive director of the state GOP.