Posted on 04/30/2010 10:30:27 AM PDT by jazusamo
JOHNSTOWN — Just seven months after announcing that a big contract would bring up to 100 new jobs to Johnstown, KDH Defense Systems administrators are leaving town.
Employees, who number an estimated 100 or more, were informed this week that the Broad Street manufacturer of military vests is “permanently closing” no later than July 1.
The letter from John Hornick, KDH human resource manager, also says most of the company’s local workers had been laid off “on a temporary basis” in January and February.
“Unfortunately, the business environment has not improved and therefore we are unable to call back any of our workers and we will be closing this facility,” Hornick wrote.
The letter doesn’t mention it, but KDH last year opened a new plant in Eden, N.C. Some employees on Thursday said they believe that local work is shifting to that facility as well as to subcontractors.
Two company administrators contacted Thursday said they were not aware of the closure. Dave Herbener, KDH president and chief executive officer, did not return a phone call Thursday evening.
Herbener, a former Lockheed-Martin employee in New Jersey, founded KDH in Johnstown in 2004. And he filled a void when the company moved into the former Bestform plant in Cambria City.
In fact, KDH hired many former Bestform workers who already had experience in the textile business.
While the defense industry can be cyclical, 2009 seemed to be a good year for KDH.
The company in July won a $39.37 million contract to supply vests for the Army and Air Force.
Then, at the end of September, Herbener confirmed a deal with the Marine Corps initially valued at $88.7 million. He said the contract could grow to more than $380 million.
At the time, Herbener expected to add 50 to 100 new jobs in Johnstown.
“We will do some of this work in North Carolina,” Herbener said last year. “So both facilities will grow.”
But something apparently changed drastically.
It’s not clear whether the February death of U.S. Rep. John Murtha had an impact on the pending KDH closure.
In 2004, Herbener said the defense-spending influence of Murtha played a role in his locating here.
But, while Murtha did secure a $1.76 million earmark for KDH in September, that was dwarfed by the two contracts the company won on its own.
KDH employee Colleen Spishak said she believes the company has plenty of work, but “there’s no work for us here.”
Spishak worked at the Broad Street Bestform for 13 years before losing her job when the company closed in 2002. She started at KDH in 2005.
The Upper Yoder Township resident said she believes the opening of a KDH plant in North Carolina was the beginning of the end for the Johns-town facility.
“The writing was on the wall,” Spishak said. “We saw it coming.”
She last worked at KDH earlier this month and said, with so many furloughs since January, only a handful of employees remained on the job in Johns-town.
Now, for the third time in the past eight years, she’ll be looking for another place to work.
“I have no clue what I’m going to be doing next,” Spishak said.
One comment from after the article:
Former Manager wrote:
As a former production manager of KDH, this does not surprise me at all. If one was to connect the dots of Mr. Herbener's career, it should be noted that he was able to segue his connections from Lockheed's relationship with the US NAVY when he exited the company. After a brief stint as an independent consultant, he was offered the opportunity to secure contracts and start a cut and sew operation after alligning himself with Murtha, who readily supplied earmark funding in order to grow employment in the Johnstown area. This complex network of lobbying and funding is currently under investigation by the DOJ. For instance, one specific program where millions of tax payer dollars were allocated for R&D for a specialized sonar program for the Navy ended up in litigation with a UK company was potentially full of smoke and mirrors that allowed the owner to purchase (and since bankrupt) a private body armor company in TN call Lifeline Body Armor. Mr. Herbener lacked the industry experience for cut and sew operations, but was supported by Murtha for many years. The gig is up. Unfortunate for the employees of Johnstown who Mr. Herbener had a disregard for. Eventually, sunshine will bring out the truth. For further information, I would refer to this watchdog source for things to come:
source: http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/1643
'John Murtha’s network included four former staffers — Carmen Scialabba of KSA Consulting Inc., Colette Marchesini Pollock of GSP Consulting Corp., Scott Harshman of Harshman Consulting LLC, and Gabrielle Carruth, who works directly for defense contractor Argon ST Inc. — representing six defense contractors. Those contractors — Advanced Acoustic Concepts, Argon ST, Coherent Systems, KDH Defense System Inc., Nokomis Inc., and Sabeus Sensor Systems — received a total of eight earmarks, worth a combined $18 million, for such items as a detection system for improvised explosive devices, waterway threat detection, and computer systems for small combat ships. Murtha and his Majority PAC received $51,100 from their corporate PACs, $111,600 from key corporate executives, $2,500 from GSP Consulting’s PAC, and $26,900 from the lobbyists’ own personal checkbooks — $192,100 in all. The treasurer of Argon ST’s corporate PAC is the very same Gabrielle Carruth. David Herbener, president of KDH, claimed in an e-mail that Scialabba has never represented his company, though KSA Consulting has filed more than a dozen public disclosure forms since 2003 declaring Scialabba’s lobbying work for KDH.'
April 30, 2010,
Pay-to-play Ping!
Hope and Change.
His kickbacks died with him?
His constituents DESERVE righteous retribution....how’s that Hope and Change working out for you now?
With Norm Dicks now Chairman of the Subcommittee on Defense Appropriations PA-12 won’t be getting the earmarks and no-bid contracts they did with Murtha as chair, even if a Dem fills his seat.
90% of Johnstown’s employers are exactly like KDH. Without Murtha’s pork and goodies, they don’t need to be there. The place will be a ghost town by the time Obama leaves office.
I believe you’re correct. It was almost like it was a requirement with Murtha, to get earmarks from him a company had to set up a business or branch in his district, preferably Johnstown.
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