North Texas mask maker to testify to Congress on Trump administration COVID missteps
The beginning of Prestige Ameritech, the largest producer of surgical masks in the United States, was audacious.
From its start, the North Texas company’s owners have been preaching to government officials to buy American but were told American products, even if they might be vital for a response to a disease pandemic or, God forbid, a biological weapon attack, were too expensive.
No one listened, and it almost caused the North Richland Hills company to go broke, said one of the company’s boosters, North Richland Hills Mayor Oscar Trevino.
Now the company is embroiled in a controversy its owners persistently and consistently warned about.
The coronavirus pandemic came and the United States did not have, and still does not have, enough surgical masks, and members of Congress are asking why.
Michael Bowen, Prestige Ameritech vice president, is expected to testify Thursday about a whistleblower complaint that raised allegations that the federal government snubbed his offer to produce millions of masks for the federal government, according to published reports.
Someone did take him up on his offer, however. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced in early April that Prestige Ameritech would increase the production of face masks for health care workers in Texas. Prestige Ameritech’s 24-hour operation at their headquarters in North Richland Hills is being staffed in part by members of the Texas National Guard 36th Infantry Division and will produce 2 million masks per week, Abbott said during an April 8 press conference.
Bowen and company president Dan Reese, Prestige Ameritech’s founders, were both officials for the Tecnol Technologies Group, which later became a division of Kimberly-Clark. Kimberly-Clark owned the North Richland Hills facility and made about 87% of surgical masks produced in the United States.
Then, the Kimberly-Clark North Richland Hills plant employed about 2,000 people and was one of the largest medical personal protective gear manufacturers in the United States before moving their operations to Mexico and China, Trevino said.
During the H1N1 flu epidemic, the company flourished, but after the disease diminished, medical protective gear consumers sought overseas contracts because they were cheaper, Trevino said.
“During the (flu) epidemic he ramped up and hired 100 people,” Trevino said. “But as soon as that scare was over, they (consumers) went back to foreign producers. He had to lay everyone off and pay the workers comp.”
Bowen kept trying to offer his company’s mask making prowess to the federal government and kept getting turned down, according to reporting by the Washington Post.
“They were smart enough to see that there are only 2 or 3 masks makers in the country,” Trevino said. “They were pretty sure they could convince people that they needed some domestic production in the country.
“But everyone else wanted to go for the low dollar. His masks are 3 times higher because of our labor laws. You would think the government would say labor is mistreated in these companies so we weren’t going buy from them, but they never did.”
But, as Bowen had done for many years, he kept trying, Trevino said. The company’s founders wanted a contract that would sustain the operation during non-emergency times, so that when an emergency occurred, Prestige Ameritech would be able to supply the equipment the United States needed, Trevino said.
When Trump entered office, Bowen believed that his Buy American, America First rhetoric would give Prestige Ameritech leverage with the new administration, the Washington Post story said.
According to Washington Post reporting, Bowen was mistaken about that.
Bowen’s overtures to the Trump administration are outlined in an 89-page whistleblower complaint filed this week by Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.
Bright’s complaint alleges that he was retaliated against by federal government officials and was reassigned to a lesser post because he tried to advance scientific and safety concerns instead of opting for what was politically expedient. Health and Human Services officials have characterized the allegations as without merit, according to a story from The Intercept.
The alleged villain of this tale is Robert Kadlec, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response for Health and Human Services and once Bright’s boss, the Intercept story said.
Kadlec is described in the Intercept’s story as a petty tyrant who ignored, mocked, and thwarted Bright’s repeated efforts to address the imminent shortage of masks and other personal protective equipment in January and February, as the virus began spreading across the country.
