Georgia Republican says he’s ‘proud’ of outsourcing career

by Cameron Joseph - 10/07/14 9:24 AM ET

Georgia Senate candidate David Perdue (R) said he’s “proud” of his business career, seeking to redefine the term “outsourcing” following the release of legal documents, where he said he spent “most of my career” doing that.

{mosads}”Defend it? I’m proud of it,” he said when asked about the court deposition on Thursday. “This is a part of American business, part of any business. Outsourcing is the procurement of products and services to help your business run. People do that all day.”

Perdue then blamed government regulation for hurting the middle class, not outsourcing big large companies.

“I think the issue that people get confused about is the loss of jobs,” he said. “This is because of bad government policies: tax policy, regulation, even compliance requirements. It puts us at a competitive disadvantage with the rest of the world. Even today, right now this administration has policies going on that are decimating industries today.”

The comments come in the wake of the release of court documents focused on Perdue’s time at Pillowtex, a North Carolina-based textile company that collapsed shortly after he left, in which Perdue walks lawyers through a career highlighting his work creating overseas operations. Perdue has focused on his business career on the campaign trail, touting his time as CEO of Dollar General and Reebok and work for Sara Lee while mostly avoiding discussion of Pillowtex.

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Perdue has had a small lead over former charity executive Michelle Nunn (D) in most recent polling. She’s all but certain to highlight his comments in their first official debate Tuesday night.

Georgia has the highest state-level unemployment rate in the country at 8.1 percent.