Innovation Ohio is on the op-ed page of The Plain Dealer today sharing our research – and the truth – about the positive jobs effect of the auto rescue for Ohio. But, just like Whack-a-Mole, one more lie about Ohio’s auto industry pops up as soon the record is corrected on the previous one.
Why fudge the facts on auto jobs and the importance of the industry to Ohio? Our state is at the center of the political universe until Election Day. Pundits from one end of the country to the other believe the presidential vote in Ohio will determine the outcome of the race. The Romney campaign has rightly identified President Barack Obama’s support of the auto rescue as a huge advantage for the president in the state. Since the rescue was fully implemented – mid-2009 – more than 17,000 auto jobs have been added in Ohio. Gov. Mitt Romney was publicly against the auto rescue – he’s trying mightily not to have to pay the political price for that position.
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Only in our current hyper-partisan political environment – where everything must be run through an ideological wringer – could the saving of an entire American industry become such a political football.
Of course, I’m talking about the financial rescue of GM and Chrysler – which was in essence the rescue of the entire industry. Innovation Ohio’s policy staff has tracked the growth of auto industry jobs in Ohio since mid 2009 and the numbers – from the Bureau of Labor Statistics – tell us that more than 17,000 auto jobs have been added. This is the sort of statistic touted by the Obama Administration.
On the other side is Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. He famously penned an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal which argued against federal involvement in backstopping the auto industry. Rather than quietly move on from an issue that didn’t go his way – the rescue worked – he and Ohio Gov. John Kasich talk down Ohio’s recovering economy and the auto industry’s place in that recovery.
Dan Gearino of The Columbus Dispatch has written a well-reported, balanced piece on the raging debate over the auto rescue. What interested me in the story is what auto industry executives had to say about the rescue.
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