Furniture maker’s collapse drags down Tardy, Connors
Via Brunswick Times-Record (January 6, 2010):
On Jan. 21, Keenan Auction Co. will attempt to sell the manufacturing equipment, office chairs, forklifts and real estate associated with Moosehead Furniture in Monson.
Even the shuttered company’s Web site and brand name will be offered to the highest bidder.
It’s the last days for a company that had its start in Maine 60 years ago, and less than three years after state leaders heralded new ownership and renewed opportunity for the manufacturers of Maine-made furniture.
The Moosehead Furniture saga illustrates the perils investors — and state programs that back them — face during Maine’s ongoing economic malaise.
A legislative leader and Maine’s leading business lobbyist teamed up with an out-of-state investor to try to save a floundering manufacturer. They relied heavily upon state programs designed to aid business ventures, but still needed more help. When they sought an infusion of economic development grant funding, rules that limit aid to firms affiliated with legislators thwarted their effort.
Ultimately, their effort to save Maine jobs cost Maine money (perhaps more than $600,000, depending on loan repayments) — and left furniture builders hoping for a new savior. At present, the company’s hopes for rebirth rest with the foreclosure process.
Moosehead Manufacturing — its Monson mills, equipment and designs — was purchased in September 2007 by state Rep. Josh Tardy, R-Newport and House Minority Leader; Dana Connors, the head of the Maine Chamber of Commerce; and Ed Skovron Jr., an investor from Rhode Island. Each became primary investors in the retooled Moosehead Furniture.