State is wrong for ignoring Valley's auto industry links

Ohio Gov. Bob Taft made an unannounced visit to South Korea last week at the invitation of the Hyundai Motor Co. which is planning to build a $1 billion car assembly plant, its first in the United States. Administration officials have identified two possible sites in Ohio for the facility, but much to our chagrin, neither is in the Mahoning Valley.
Taft and his economic development team should not be blind to the reality that the Valley is the leading automobile manufacturing region in the state. This isn't just our admittedly biased opinion. It's the opinion of the world's leading automaker, General Motors Corp.
GM's expected decision to produce the next generation of its compact cars at its Lordstown assembly complex, which has given the world the highly successful Chevrolet Cavalier and the Pontiac Sunfire, is evidence of the company's commitment to the Mahoning Valley. In fact, GM has indicated to the Taft administration that the region has the inside track for the new product and that it isn't interested in looking anywhere else in Ohio.
The nation's economic problems, exacerbated by the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, has delayed the project, but there is no indication that the new product has been put on hold indefinitely.
Taft's role: The governor is playing an important role in making sure that the state of Ohio responds positively to GM's request for financial incentives and he has publicly assured residents of the Valley that his administration will not be outmaneuvered by any other state that is also making a bid for the new product.
The only downside to GM's decision to build the new compact models at Lordstown is the fact that the number of employees will be cut by almost half -- 4,400 to 2,200.
That means there will be a significant number of autoworkers without jobs, which, in our opinion, the governor should use as a selling point to lure Hyundai to the Buckeye State.
In making its announcement, South Korea's largest automaker, whose product line includes the Accent, Elantra, Sonata and the Sante Fe sports utility vehicle, has said that its plant would employ about 3,000 and that it is looking for experienced autoworkers. The Mahoning Valley is certainly in a much better position to meet that need than the Village of Mount Orab in southern Ohio or Wapakoneta in the northwest -- not exactly manufacturing capitals of the world.
Experience: In the highly competitive global economy, why not tout manufacturing experience at least as strongly as agricultural work ethic? The South Koreans might be more impressed by a worker who has experience maintaining a robotic welder than one who can fix a baling machine.
Foreign companies want the most qualified, experienced workers and that's what the Mahoning Valley has to offer.
We would urge the governor, who does have a deep understanding of this region's manufacturing history, to instruct his development department to prepare a profile of the region for Hyundai and to bring the South Koreans and the Valley's business and labor leaders together.
We are confident that this area, which has experience in putting together marketing presentations for major corporations, as it did for General Motors and for Saturn, will be able to sell itself.