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Ripping Romney
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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, center, greets the crowd at his campaign headquarters in Charleston, S.C., on Thursday.
By Karl Henkel
WARREN
GOP front-runner Mitt Romney essentially is tied with President Barack Obama in a recent poll of Ohioans, and General Motors on Thursday reclaimed its spot as the top automaker in the world.
So Mahoning County Democratic Chairman Dave Betras thought it was a perfect time to remind citizens of Romney’s past decision-making.
Betras called out the former Massachusetts governor, who previously said he would not have helped save General Motors and Chrysler from bankruptcy.
“Mitt Romney has said on the record that he would have let GM go down, and it was the wrong use of TARP to loan money to the auto industry,” Betras said Thursday at an event at Sauer Chevrolet in Warren. “If you like Barack Obama or not, he saved that auto industry, [and] he saved the jobs of the Valley.”
In late 2008, the federal government lent $17 billion of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Fund to Chrysler and General Motors.
The two automakers filed for bankruptcy in 2009; a year later, they began repaying their loans.
The U.S. Treasury currently owns one-third of GM’s equity.
“Whether or not the loans were the right thing or the wrong thing, they worked,” said Dave Green, president of United Auto Workers Local 1714 at the Lordstown plant, which manufactures the Chevrolet Cruze.
According to a 2010 study by the Center for Automotive Research, more than 792,000 Ohio jobs depend on the auto industry.
That figure includes 120,285 direct jobs, 276,330 indirect jobs and 395,981 spinoff jobs.
A 2011 study by the CAR found that 164,654 jobs in 2009 would have been lost in Ohio if the auto industry had not been rescued.
“Every autoworker job helps support seven to 10 jobs outside the auto industry,” said Jim Graham, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112. “We’ve got 5,000 people at Lordstown. Do the math.”
The Cruze, which for a short time last year was the top-selling car in America, also became the top-selling compact car for a five-month stretch, beating out perennial segment-winners Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla.
GM sold 231,732 Cruzes in 2011 and was narrowly edged by the Corolla for best-selling compact car of the year.
A representative from Romney’s campaign did not immediately return an email seeking comment.