WASHINGTON - To hear Democrats tell it, Republican congressional candidate and self-proclaimed small-business success story Chris Collins is manufacturing products in China.
But to Collins, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's news release attacking him this week is just one lie piled on top of another.
The truth is a lot more complicated.
In a nutshell, the latest hot issue in the race between Collins and Rep. Kathleen C. Hochul, D-Hamburg, involves the Balance Buddy training handle, a U-shaped bar that attaches to a bicycle's back wheel so parents to help their kids learn how to ride.
The Balance Buddy is the one and only product offered by Ingenious Products, a Collins family company based in Clarence.
To Democrats, the negative aspect of the Balance Buddy is spelled out on the Ingenious website, which notes that the company's "manufacturing resources" include facilities in Yantai Shandong province, China, and South Korea.
"Chris Collins Creates Jobs ... in China and South Korea?" the Democratic campaign committee said.
"Chris Collins is trying to hide his family's Chinese and South Korean manufacturing plants from Western New York voters," added Josh Schwerin, the campaign's Northeast regional press secretary.
Asked for an explanation, Collins said he created Ingenious to invest in and distribute - but not manufacture - clever products. The first was the Balance Buddy, which was made in China before Collins ever invested in it.
Ingenious contracts with a manufacturer in China but does not have factories there, Collins said.
"I have never owned a manufacturing facility outside the United States and never outsourced a job," said Collins, who called the Democratic news release "totally false" and "the sign of desperate attack politics."
What's more, he repeated his attacks on Hochul, calling her a longtime dependent on government salaries who doesn't know what it takes to create jobs.
Asked why Ingenious would contract with a manufacturer in China, Collins said that it would be too expensive to make the product in the United States.
"It would not be feasible to have that product made and packaged for $7 in the U.S.," Collins said.
Hearing that, Schwerin was not impressed, given that Collins had previously gone on record saying, "China cheats," citing the nation's manipulation of its currency and rules closing its market to American manufacturers.
"He calls the Chinese cheaters but then he does business with them when it helps his bottom line," Schwerin said.
What's more, Schwerin speculated on the possibilities of the Balance Buddy being made in America.
"How many jobs are there that could be in New York or the U.S." he asked.
For Collins, the answer to that question is "not many."
"This is not one of my most successful investments," said Collins, a self-made multimillionaire who has long touted his many business successes in his political campaigns.
Ingenious Products has two employees, both of whom have other jobs, he said.
Not to be deterred, Collins said: "We are looking for other Ingenious-type products."
Envisioning the day when Ingenious products might even fill a catalog, Collins proudly noted that he thought of the company's name himself.
"Welcome to Ingenious Products Inc." his website says. "The world is our marketplace."
