Bush nominee must pay attention to this region

If our editorial Sunday on President Bush's nominee for assistant commerce secretary for manufacturing and services had an overly negative bent, it's because we had hoped for someone with firsthand knowledge of the economic turmoil being experienced by the industrial Midwest.
The choice of Albert A. Frink Jr., co-founder of Santa Ana, Calif.-based Fabrica International, struck us as odd, given that Ohio sits atop the list of states that have lost high-paying manufacturing jobs. Not only would Bush have scored political points by appointing as his manufacturing czar someone from the key battle ground in the presidential sweepstakes, he would have delivered a reassuring message to the victims of the job cuts that the White House has its priorities in the right order.
As it stands, people in this part of the country are left to wonder whether the president and his advisers realize that when nearly 2 million jobs disappear from the manufacturing sector, it's an economic crisis.
Fabrica International, which Frink and his partners started with a $100,000 Small Business Administration loan, manufactures and sells high-end luxury carpets and rugs to retailers, interior designers and furniture stores, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Times noted in a recent story that the company "boasts that its carpet graces parts of the White House."
Frink, 61, and his partners sold Fabrica to the Dixie Group Inc. of Dalton, Ga., for $70 million, but the Orange County resident remains active in the company as an executive vice president of the Dixie Group.
Unfair competition
The carpet manufacturing industry in the United States has remained strong, unlike the steel industry which has been devastated by unfair competition from abroad.
If Frink does pass muster with the U.S. Senate, which must confirm his nomination, we would urge him to visit the Mahoning Valley to get a firsthand look at what happens when manufacturing jobs are lost. More than 20 years after the major steel companies shut down their plants, this region still has not fully recovered economically. More than 50,000 residents were affected, resulting in record-high unemployment and home foreclosures and a decline in the population.
Recovery has been slow, and the downturn in the national and state economies has not helped matters. The nation's unemployment rate is magnified in the Mahoning Valley, which has the effect of undermining economic growth.
That is why the Bush administration's ho-hum attitude toward the unlevel playing field in global trade is of major concern to the Midwest. Likewise, the administration's contention that outsourcing is good for the American economy feeds the perception that the White House is out of touch with the reality confronting states like Ohio.
The president's manufacturing czar cannot get a true picture of what is taking place by using the carpet industry in California as his reference point.
To fully appreciate the extent of the devastation caused by the loss of manufacturing jobs, Frink must spend some time in the Valley -- and listen to the people whose lives are still in a state of flux.