Clinton Library sends $1 million contract to Scotland
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — While Democratic presidential candidates complain that too many jobs are going overseas, the last Democrat to hold the office is having a Scottish firm build nearly $1 million worth of cabinets for his presidential library.
The foundation building the $160 million Bill Clinton Presidential Library says limited choices forced it to look overseas for the specialized museum cases.
Skip Rutherford, the foundation’s president, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he and other construction officials have “worked hard to make sure that Arkansans and then Americans received the work.”
But through an open-bidding process, exhibit fabricators Maltbie Associates of Mt. Laurel, N.J., subcontracted the manufacturing of 85 glass display cases to Netherfield Visuals of Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland. The contract was worth 500,000 pounds, or about $936,000.
Rutherford and Jonathan Semans of Phelps Program Management, the construction manager on the Clinton Library project, said they were not aware of any other foreign firms working as subcontractors. But they also said they had not compiled a list and could not be sure.
They downplayed the significance of hiring a foreign-based company for what they called a small component of a library project that employs 1,500 people. It is set for completion in November.
Maltbie was the subcontractor hired by Phelps Program Management in an open-bid process. The museum designers, Ralph Appelbaum & Associates of New York, then recommended five firms to make the display cases, which must have sliding glass panels that also preserve the archival documents inside.
Marianne Shuit, who is working on the project for Ralph Appelbaum & Associates, said only one of the five recommended casemakers was a U.S.-based firm — Baltimore-based Guenschel. The others — Netherfield from Scotland, Reier and Glasbau Hahn of Germany and Meyvaert of Belgium — all use American subsidiaries to distribute the work, she said.
Rutherford said it was “a stretch” to suggest that hiring Netherfield contradicts promises by Clinton’s fellow Democrats to combat President Bush’s free trade policies, which they say have allowed too many jobs to go overseas.
“I don’t think a subcontact on a major museum project is setting international trade policy,” Rutherford said. “I don’t know if it’s setting an example or not. Ralph Appelbaum & Associates are the best exhibit designers in the world and they want to use the best materials available in the world. So I think the example here is quality work.”
But Lindsay Taylor, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said if Democratic presidential hopefuls Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina want to criticize Bush for exporting jobs, they can’t ignore the Netherfield contract.
“Call me crazy, but something tells me that John Kerry and John Edwards won’t be highlighting the Clinton Library giving jobs to Scotland during their campaign speeches,” Taylor said.
Kerry, the front-runner in the Democratic presidential race, attacked Bush’s policies in a speech Wednesday in Cleveland and promised to make companies disclose all exported jobs to the government if elected president.
Semans noted that Netherfield has already performed work for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington; the Liberty Bell Center, National Constitution Center and Independence Visitors Center in Philadelphia; and the California Museum of Science and Industry.
Semans said display casemaking is such a specialized component of the museum construction process that it is nearly impossible to limit the work to American firms.
“This is not kitchen cabinets we’re talking about,” Semans said.
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On the Net:
Clinton Presidential Foundation: http://www.clintonpresidentialcenter.com
News from Scotland on Scotsman.com: http://news.scotsman.com