(CNS) Now that former-Anita Bryant press secretary Kathy Lee Gifford has been caught running the equivalent of a child slave-ring, she has gone on the offensive to protect her "good reputation." The only problem is that her idea of a solution looks more like a media gimmick instead of a bona fide good faith effort to stop the exploitation of children. Her crocodile tears really only make her look concerned, because she has not proposed doing anything of substance to make amends for her own exploitation of children, from whose labor she derived millions of dollars in profits from approximately 24 factories.

Mrs. Gifford had the nerve to pay children .31 (that's thirty one CENTS) per hour, for laboring under sweat-shop conditions (i.e, slave-like), and then act indignant because she was exposed for the cold- hearted and venal person she really is, devoid of morals. Her facade of being a super-upstanding morally righteous person especially entitles her to the poor reputation she is earning. Kathy Lee Gifford made a reputed $9 million dollars off the sweat of those kids, but has she offered to compensate the actual individuals responsible for doing the work that enriched her? NO, her answer is to start an organization, which of course would be non-profit; in fact, she can hire herself, and give herself a six-figure income, all for the good of those little tykes, whose childhoods she stole, and to whom she offers no compensation. If Kathy Lee Gifford really wants to make things right, she should offer the actual children who worked for her -- they have names and faces you know -- enough money that their hourly wage is compensated at a above-slave labor rate; probably if she even just offered the children as little as $3.00 per hour, the kids would be doing well for the living standards of a Third World country.

Americans should be wondering why Kathy Lee Gifford was exporting those jobs in the first place... The reason was her profits would be higher. In the U.S., she would have to pay $8.00 to $15.00 per hour for skilled labor, to say nothing of the taxes and withholding. In short, Mrs. Gifford has no right to act so indignant. She is part of the problem, knowingly setting up factories in Third World countries to make money. While there is nothing wrong with making money, there is something wrong with making money at someone else's unfair expense.

(CNS, 4 JUNE, 1996)