Glad this is coming out now

It was pretty well known that Mary Burke was not the greatest executive Trek ever had.  Now we discover that her own family had to swallow hard and make the decision to can her:

Burke has claimed that, after two years heading Trek Bicycles’ European operations during which sales figures rose substantially, she was “burnt out” and left for a several month “snowboarding tour.” Now, several former Trek executives claim that the story is entirely false.

They claim that Burke was in fact fired, and by her own family, which controls Trek Bicycles. Sales were not rising substantially under her watch, but were in fact plummeting, and morale was terrible among the European sales staff. This, they allege, was the real reason for Burke’s extended snowboarding tour — her family wanted her away from the company.

Gary Ellerman, a 21-year employee and head of Trek’s Human Resources Department (the article discloses that Ellerman is the current head of the Jefferson County Republican Party) said of Burke:

She was underperforming. She was [in] so far over her head; she didn’t understand the bike business.

Ellerman also claims that Burke’s father Richard Burke, founder and then-CEO of Trek, sent Tom Albers, then-president and CFO, to Amsterdam to evaluate Mary Burke’s performance. Albers reportedly found the European operations in disarray. As a result of Elbers’ review, Burke’s brother John — then-VP of sales and marketing and current Trek president — was obliged to let his sister go.

Asked about a possible political motivation for the disclosure considering his current political role, Ellerman stated:

I was there. This is what went down.

Other Trek employees — who reportedly requested anonymity — claim that European managers described Burke as a “pit bull on crack,” and “Attila the Hun.” Says Ellerman:

There is a dark side to Mary that the people at Trek have seen. … She can explode on people. She can be the cruelest person you ever met.

In the course of her campaign, Burke has repeatedly claimed that European sales climbed to some $50M on her watch. Her 2004 résumé, submitted to the Doyle administration when she was being considered for commerce secretary, claims that the figure was closer to $60M. Despite repeated requests by reporters, Trek has refused to issue any confirmation of the claims, citing the company’s status as a closely held family business.

Ellerman says those sales figures are fabricated.

Heads up, Wisconsinites:  Plenty of time for those of you who were about to make the wrong choice to rethink it.

This is extra beautiful and glorious coming as it does on the heels of the audience-thinning-as-the-Most-Equal-Comrade-stumps-for-Burke-in-similar-fashion-to-what-happened-in-Maryland story that was the subject of today's first post.