Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware, a group made up of more than 1,500 members including employees of the translation services company TransPerfect, announced a summer campaign to pass legislation making it harder to break the company.
Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware brought on KOFA Public Affairs to run the on-the-ground campaign effort in DelawaThe campaign will begin this week and will include direct mail, newspaper ads, door knocking, canvassing at public events – including tables at the Delaware State Fair and lobbying efforts.
The organization came out of Chancery Court decision, ordering the sale after the one-time couple who owned the New York City company could not agree on a sale.
Phil Shawe, who co-founded the company with former fiance Liz Elting has balked at paying a higher price that might come from selling TransPerfect to the highest bidder. Etling has indicated she is pleased with the Chancery decision. Shawe has vowed to take hte case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“There are hundreds of employees who live in fear that a good, steady job will come to an end this summer. It is our mission to stand up for each and every one of them. This summer, we have an aggressive campaign of radio, newspaper ads, canvassing, traditional lobbying, and other means to ensure that everyone has a voice,” said Chris Coffey, campaign manager for Citizens for Pro-Business Delaware. “We are excited to have added KOFA Public Affairs to help develop and execute a ground game this summer which ensures our legislation has the best chance of success. They know Delaware and will join Patrick Allen on a great statewide team.”
The group has employed various tactics that include the claim that the TransPerfect decision threatens the business climate of the state.
Chancery Court is known as the nation’s leading court in resolving complex business disputes. It is held in generally high regard among legislators. Legal experts have said the decision by Chancellor Andre Bouchard is unusual, but comes out of an unusual situation where no negotiations have been possible.
The group is continuing what it describes as a grassroots efforts to get more citizens and legislators to join the growing coalition. At the end of the last legislative session, leaders of Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware had meetings with high-ranking state legislators from both sides of the aisle and made substantive progress.
The group is advocating a remedy would be to appoint board members who would break the deadlock.
The case is unusual in that the 50-50 split among owners is not normal practice when forming companies that normally have some buy-sell provision in place.
