Voinovich's commitment to Valley remains strong

While the presentation of a $1.3 million check from the federal government was the obvious main story, the sidebar had to be U.S. Sen. George V. Voinovich's presence at the ceremony. Why? Because it demonstrated the Republican's continued support of General Motors Corp.'s Lordstown assembly plant and indicated that he is getting into his election mode. That's good news for the Mahoning Valley.
The $1.3 million was brought to the area on July 14 by David A. Sampson, U.S. assistant secretary of commerce for Economic Development, and will be matched by General Motors. The village of Lordstown will contribute $700,000. The money will be used to install a six-mile, 21-inch waterline from the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District plant on Salt Springs Road in Weathersfield Township to the GM assembly complex.
As Jim Graham, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112, commented, "It's another piece of a giant puzzle that we started putting together about two years ago. There were all these pieces that needed to come together, and this was a big part. Now all the small pieces are falling into place."
And once the puzzle is compete, it will reveal GM's state-of-the-art assembly plant that will produce the giant automaker's new compact model, the Cobalt. It will replace the highly successful Chevrolet Cavalier that is built at Lordstown.
But when talking about pieces of the puzzle, one of the most significant has to be the economic incentive package offered by the state of Ohio to GM.
Commitment
Voinovich was governor when the Ohio Department of Development began negotiating with the automaker, and his public comments left little doubt that his administration would not be at fault if GM decided to locate the $500 million plant in some other state. Voinovich put together a team of development experts to exclusively handle the project and he visited Detroit several times to make sure the decision-makers knew how committed he was to seeing that the new product came out of the Lordstown complex.
Because of term limits, the former mayor of Cleveland ran for the U.S. Senate and won. He was succeeded in the governor's office by another Republican, Bob Taft, who immediately made the GM project his top priority. And the rest is history. In announcing their decision to build the new compact cars in Lordstown, company executives acknowledged that the state's economic incentive package was superior to those submitted by other states.
That is why Voinovich's presence in the Valley two weeks ago is noteworthy. His duties as a U.S. senator do not require him to be involved in specific projects -- unlike members of the House of Representatives -- but the Mahoning Valley has always been on his radar screen.
Voinovich will be seeking re-election next year to a second six-year term, and the possibility of national television talk show host Jerry Springer, former mayor of Cincinnati, being the Democratic nominee has prompted this veteran Republican politician to rev up his campaign.
He can be expected to spend a lot of time in the Valley, since he has fared better than most other statewide Republican candidates in this predominantly Democratic region.
It provides area political and community leaders with the opportunity to solicit Voinovich's support on a variety of issues, foremost of which is the preservation of the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna Township. A base closing commission is expected to make recommendations in 2005 as to which military installations in the United States and abroad should be closed as part of the Pentagon's restructuring.
The Valley's two representatives, Tim Ryan, D-Niles, and Ted Strickland, D-Lisbon, as well as Republican Steve LaTourette, R-Madison, have done a good job of drumming up support in Washington. But the involvement of Voinovich and Ohio's other senator, Republican Mike DeWine, who served as lieutenant governor under Voinovich, is essential.