No buyer, no state aid for CSC

By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Without a potential buyer lined up to purchase CSC Ltd., there is nothing the state can do to save the company, Gov. Bob Taft said.
"The state is willing to talk, but there's not much point in talking unless you've got an operator or someone who can viably keep that business in operation or revive it," Taft said.
The Warren steelmaker, which is under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, has until April 13 to find a buyer willing to operate the mill or its lenders could ask a federal bankruptcy judge to order the mill sold piece by piece.
Rainy-day fund: Mahoning Valley legislators want Taft to support plans to commit one year's interest from the state's $1 billion Budget Stabilization Fund, known as the rainy-day fund, to help CSC. The state would use the fund to back the 85 percent guarantee provided under the Federal Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Program as a way to ensure lenders would let CSC or a buyer borrow the money it needs.
CSC received approval for a $60 million loan from the program last fall, but cannot find a lender because the program has so many loopholes that could prevent repayment.
But Taft has all but ruled out supporting the rainy-day proposal because of the state's ailing financial condition. Also, he said, the state Legislature has already committed that interest, totaling about $50 million, toward other projects.
If an interested buyer came forward, Taft said, the state would look at options for covering the 15 percent of a loan guarantee not covered by the federal program.
Longshot: But finding a buyer for CSC appears to be a longshot, he said.
"Unfortunately, if you don't have a buyer or an operator, it's difficult to be of assistance in terms of keeping the company going," Taft said.
Instead of talking about ways to bail out CSC, Taft focused on plans to give state money for job retraining to those who are losing or have lost their jobs at the steel company. Taft already appropriated an additional $250,000 last month to laid-off CSC workers.
"My sympathies go out to the workers and their families because it's an extremely difficult situation," he said. "We'll provide whatever kind of state relief to families that is available under the programs we have."
Also, Taft said the state can do nothing to help CSC workers losing their health insurance unless they qualify for Medicare.
Steel bill: The governor was in Youngstown on Thursday to sign a bill, sponsored by state Sen. Robert F. Hagan, D-33rd, increasing penalties on the use of foreign steel in state construction projects. Hagan of Youngstown and Taft say foreign companies that flood the domestic market with illegal, cheap steel are to blame for much of the problems experienced by Ohio steelmakers.
Hagan's bill increases the fine for companies' buying foreign steel for use in public improvement projects from $1,000 to 1.5 times the cost of the steel products. The fine proceeds will go to local school districts.
Hagan said his bill will not save the steel industry but it is a start.
The governor signed the bill in the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor, just a short distance from the Voinovich building, a state-funded building that was built with 18 percent of its steel foreign-made.
More than 100 members of CSC's United Steelworkers of America Local 2243, their family members, other union members and local politicians stood outside the Center of Industry and Labor in an attempt to raise awareness of their situation.
Talk: After the signing, Taft spent about 20 minutes talking to Local 2243 members.
Carmen Denno, a Local 2243 executive board member, said he was encouraged by the governor's concern about CSC. But with an April 13 deadline looming, Denno said he was not sure the state could stop the mill from closing.