Detail from our Jan. 2010 newsletter: Gabriel accepts award on behalf of HUB Industrial Supply
LAKE CITY–Just hours into the launch of the campaign to elect the rubber-stamp-like mascot to represent HUB Industrial Supply, questions arose about how long our incumbent candidate has been preparing for this election.
The story stems from the discovery of a two-year-old news item that appears to show President Gabriel soliciting votes. The article, published in the January 2010 HUB Insider newsletter, mentions our selection by the IBC industrial buyers group for their 2009 Distributor of the Year award. Accepting the award on behalf of HUB was company president Gabriel Curry, who wrote the following in the newsletter:
“We are grateful for the award but I would like to remind you again that the only vote that matters is YOURS!”
–Gabriel Curry, Jan 2010
The discovery of this quote has caused some in the journalistic community to wonder whether he knew that he would be facing an election along the lines of You’re the Boss two short years later. Some have questioned whether he was gearing up his campaign at that early time by framing the conversation in terms of “votes.”
Other candidates have expressed their concern as well. “Anytime you have one candidate who appears to have an unfair advantage against the others, it’s cause for concern,” said Samuel of the Savings Sheriff Party. “I would expect a full investigation. Having said that, I would also acknowledge that a sitting president will always have certain built-in advantages over his competitors, and that’s the way it should be.”
To add even more intrigue in the affair, this news agency determined that the famed “You’re the Boss!” logo over which this election is being waged did not even come into existence until June of that same year.
In light of these new revelations, Leigh of the Specialist Party was dismissive of the controversy. “It only shows that the culture here at HUB is always to be seeking the approval of our customers whether it’s an election year or not,” she said. “Maybe that’s a mentality that some of my younger rivals haven’t yet learned–but I’m sure they’ll learn when they get a little older!”
It was not clear whether Leigh had any specific rivals in mind or if she was making a blanket comment towards many rivals.
President Gabriel was not available for comment.
Gabriel accepts award on behalf of HUB Industrial Supply
The IBC, or Industrial Buyers Consortium, is an organization that aids manufacturers, distributors and buyers. They have honored HUB Industrial with their Distributor of the Year Award in 2009 and again in 2011 as well as citing HUBÂ as a Distributor of Excellence in 2010.
Hi Folks. I NEED YOUR VOTE. My customers are telling me that I am not even in the top 5 on the polls!! One comment was (“You are not in the top 5…I find that hard to believe!!”) People…my customers think very highly of me, so I must climb in the polls so I don’t lose their confidence…
I don’t care about when he started planning for this election. He’s a good president and I think the media should just lay off the muckraking and focus on the positive. By the way, did you know that Teddy Roosevelt coined the term “Muckraker?”