I got one of those e-mails the other day, you know, those political diatribes so prevalent today that lambaste the presidential candidate not supported by the sender. This one was poking at Theresa Heinz Kerry and husband John for their alleged duplicity, holding interests in multi-national companies while attacking US based businesses sending jobs offshore.

The letter lists some 57 offshore factories owned by the Heinz Corp. and implies some conflict of interest for John Kerry in international relations because of that corporate ownership. The Heinz Corp. has posted a statement proclaiming Heinz Corp’s non-partisan status and flatly stating that neither the Heinz family, Heinz family trusts or John Kerry hold significant stock in the company.

From what I’ve been able to gather, Mrs. Heinz Kerry holds about 4% interest in the corporation, that’s a significant dollar amount (about $491.4M as of Friday’s close) and a large portion of her estimated net worth. The latest Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest Americans reported her net worth to be at least $750M.

The L.A. Times estimates Mrs. Heinz Kerry’s fortune to be somewhere between $900M and $3.2B. Even at the high end of the estimate, the Heinz Corp. holdings represent 16% of her wealth. And John Kerry is a beneficiary of that wealth. No matter how he spins it, how he tries to distance himself, he benefits greatly from his wife’s wealth. No doubt that played a significant role in his decision to marry her in 1995.

So why all the brouhaha over the Heinz Kerry holdings? If John Kerry and his leftist-activist wife are truly concerned about jobs in America, what are they doing maintaining their investments in this multi-national corporation? Yes, I understand the importance of a business domiciling its factories of perishable goods close to their markets, but that’s not the issue.

The issue is, if John Kerry is interested in bringing jobs to Americans, they should be investing in businesses that invest in America, that produce and manufacture in America. To blast Bush over outsourcing jobs while deriving significant income from stock holdings in companies doing the same thing is hypocritical. Surprised? Not me, has Kerry ever been anything but?

I am not a Kerry supporter, and I think Mrs. Heinz Kerry would be the worst thing in a first lady, but while the assumptions made in the letter I got were off base somewhat. That doesn’t negate the underlying point. That, taken with her far, far left-wing anarchist views on business, international policy and environmentalism and her in-your-face attitude make her a poor choice to represent the US both at home and abroad.

The left likes to accuse President Bush (wrongly) of going it alone in the world, of unilaterally taking the US in directions with no regard for our allies. Seems they blatantly turn a blind eye to the kind of White House, the kind of policy this nation will project, with Theresa Heinz Kerry as First Lady.

You say, “But we are electing a President, not a First Lady. It’s the President, not the First Lady who set’s policy.” Yes, officially. Yet no one will dispute the influence the First Lady has on her President. The left and the media (one in the same?) liked to jump on Nancy Reagan while she was First Lady for her strong influence on President Reagan.

Then there’s the concerns of an apparent attempt to hide some of Mrs. Heinz Kerry’s “philanthropic foundations.” Of the three foundations controlled by Mrs. Heinz Kerry, the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Foundation and the H. John Heinz III Foundation do not show up on any public record. That is worrysome.

I’m not suggesting she supports terrorism or anything like that, but why does she maintain these shell foundations? That is dealt with in some detail by Ron Arnold in Human Events while questions surrounding Mrs. Heinz Kerry’s income tax reporting is documented by Donald Luskin at National Review Online.

It would seem that those on the left who are concerned about corrupt wealth need look no further than their candidate’s wife. So, a vote for Kerry is a vote for the corrupt mega-wealthy?

In the final debate Kerry, when asked about his wife, recalled a tale of a deathbed conversation with his mother. A mother knows her son, and John Kerry’s mother really did know him when she tried one last time to push John Kerry to “integrity, integrity, integrity.” Hmmm.

Be sure to visit Letters From Iraq