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Dems to tout auto bailout
WARREN
In an effort to drum up support for President Barack Obama in the key swing state of Ohio, his campaign this week will have local autoworkers and politicians tout the president’s government auto bailout.
The “Made in Ohio” effort kicked off Monday with former Gov. Ted Strickland and national United Auto Workers President Bob King telling reporters on a conference call that without the $82 billion bailout of General Motors and Chrysler, it’s unlikely the American auto industry would exist today.
“I believe an entire economy was saved from sliding into a deeper recession or even a depression,” Strickland said of the bailout pushed by Obama, a fellow Democrat.
The tour, which will be a caravan of American-made vehicles, starts today and ends Friday with a stop toward the end of the week in Warren, near the Lordstown General Motors complex, which makes the Chevrolet Cruze. The Warren date hasn’t been given yet by the Obama campaign.
The tour gives people affected by the auto rescue an opportunity to tell their stories, said Jessica Kershaw, an Obama spokeswoman.
Dawn Burkey of North Lima, a 15-year Lordstown GM worker, said on the conference call that she lost her welder operator job a few years ago.
“But thanks to unemployment benefits and a little penny-pinching, I made it through that tough time, and thanks to President Obama’s bold decision to save the auto industry, I am now proudly back at work,” she said.
During the call, Strickland criticized Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, for not supporting the bailout and favoring bankruptcy. Also, Strickland said Romney “has a history of outsourcing jobs” and personally “investing in foreign institutions” such as a trust in the Cayman Islands and a Swiss bank account.
In a prepared response, U.S. Rep. Mike Turner of Centerville, R-3rd, said on behalf of Romney’s campaign: “Remarkably, President Obama’s allies have attempted to justify his $80 billion auto bailout. President Obama’s mismanagement of the process cost the American taxpayers $23 billion. In the process, 20,000 Delphi salaried retirees lost up to 70 percent of their pensions. Governor Romney will make decisions based on what’s best for the economy and for American workers, not based on political favoritism and back-room deals.”
Chris Maloney, Ohio Republican Party spokesman, said that Ohio lost 400,000 with Strickland as governor.
“If that makes [Strickland] an economic expert, we look forward to having that conversation,” he said.