Heinz denies link to Kerry campaign
By Charles Sheehan
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH — H.J. Heinz Co. has launched an election-year campaign of its own, this one to distance the ketchup maker from what is shaping up to be an acrimonious presidential race.
The company has sent almost 50 letters to radio and television talk shows nationwide to tamp down chatter on the airwaves and Internet suggesting revenue from ketchup sales will benefit the campaign of pending Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.
TERESA HEINZ KERRY
His wife is Teresa Heinz Kerry, heiress to the $500 million family ketchup fortune.
The company has received about 150 calls this month from consumers vowing to boycott Heinz products, or in some instances to buy more, said company spokeswoman Debbie Foster.
"It's just crazy," Foster said. "We haven't been involved in politics since Morris the Cat ran for president in 1988" — when the company ran a spoof campaign with Morris, the face of its 9 Lives cat food, as the finicky candidate.
Heinz Kerry, who was married to Republican Sen. H. John Heinz III when he was killed in a 1991 plane crash, is not on Heinz's board and is in no way involved with company management, Foster said.
Collectively, Heinz Kerry, along with her children with John Heinz and The Heinz Endowments which she chairs, own less than 4 percent of outstanding company stock.
The company has not seen any effect on sales. But it took action after The Heinz Endowments was accused of financing Peaceful Tomorrows, a group for Sept. 11 victims' families that criticized President Bush's use of footage from the attacks in political ads.
The Heinz Endowments and Peaceful Tomorrows repeatedly have denied any link.
