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I once was a union organizer and one of my campaigns was Purdue Chicken in Maryland. The following is from something I found aback then had to look around the internet to find reference to. It was buried a long time back but involves Arlen Specter involved in what would be considered REAL criminal activity that was never investgated or brought up on the campaign trail.
In brief, Frank Purdue committed manslaughter one day on the Pennsylvania Turnpike during a drunk driving accident. He hired the guy who was going to become the new District Attorney, Arlen Specter, who was just a defense lawyer then. Once he became District Attorney, Specter buried the whole incident by waiting until the day after the statute of limitations ended to bring the case up in a quiet fashion.
It happens that Southern Exposure introduced the nation to some of these less savory aspects of Perdue’s life and business, in a 1989 package of stories that (ahem) won the National Magazine Award. In one of the articles, Barbara Goldoftas exposed the debilitating carpal tunnel injuries many workers suffered; that same year, the state of North Carolina fined Perdue Farms $40,000 when it was shown that 36 percent of the workers in two plants had carpal tunnel syndrome.
One of the biggest scoops (by our founding editor, Bob Hall) was discovering that Perdue, an incorrigibly reckless driver, had been charged with involuntary manslaughter in 1974 when he “ignored or overlooked warning signs and red lights” on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and collided with two cars, killing one person. But Perdue’s expensive lawyer got the charges dropped and the court records expunged; as one court official told Southern Exposure, “There was a lot of grease on the wheel of this one.”
Perdue’s lawyer? None other than Arlen Specter, now U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania. During Specter’s first senatorial campaign in 1986, Perdue contributed the maximum $2,000; a heavy contributor for many years to Republicans such as Jesse Helms and Lauch Faircloth (along with some Democrats), Perdue also gave $20,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee between 1985 and 1987.
In brief, Frank Purdue committed manslaughter one day on the Pennsylvania Turnpike during a drunk driving accident. He hired the guy who was going to become the new District Attorney, Arlen Specter, who was just a defense lawyer then. Once he became District Attorney, Specter buried the whole incident by waiting until the day after the statute of limitations ended to bring the case up in a quiet fashion.
It happens that Southern Exposure introduced the nation to some of these less savory aspects of Perdue’s life and business, in a 1989 package of stories that (ahem) won the National Magazine Award. In one of the articles, Barbara Goldoftas exposed the debilitating carpal tunnel injuries many workers suffered; that same year, the state of North Carolina fined Perdue Farms $40,000 when it was shown that 36 percent of the workers in two plants had carpal tunnel syndrome.
One of the biggest scoops (by our founding editor, Bob Hall) was discovering that Perdue, an incorrigibly reckless driver, had been charged with involuntary manslaughter in 1974 when he “ignored or overlooked warning signs and red lights” on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and collided with two cars, killing one person. But Perdue’s expensive lawyer got the charges dropped and the court records expunged; as one court official told Southern Exposure, “There was a lot of grease on the wheel of this one.”
Perdue’s lawyer? None other than Arlen Specter, now U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania. During Specter’s first senatorial campaign in 1986, Perdue contributed the maximum $2,000; a heavy contributor for many years to Republicans such as Jesse Helms and Lauch Faircloth (along with some Democrats), Perdue also gave $20,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee between 1985 and 1987.
