Thursday, March 25, 2010

Why stop with Dayton? Might as well mess up Springfield, too.

Governor Strickland already screwed up when NCR abandoned Dayton to move down to Georgia.

But why stop there? It looks like Ohio is well on its way to losing more jobs and investments in the Springfield area.
Ohio politicians are seeking President Barack Obama’s help to keep the Netherlands from moving its F-16 training missions from Ohio to Arizona.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D), who is facing a tough reelection fight, and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) have in recent weeks engaged Obama, members of the administration and the U.S. Air Force to keep the Dutch fighter pilots in Springfield — along with the local jobs they bring.

[...]

Air Force data obtained by The Hill shows that a three-year training period in Springfield would cost $117.3 million and the same period would cost $105.3 million in Tucson. The Dutch have indicated to the Air Force repeatedly that cost would be the overriding factor in their looming decision.

[...]

The Springfield base currently employs 1,000 people, 450 of whom are full-time employees. The jobs are at risk if the Air Force doesn’t find a new mission for Springfield.
I'm told an earlier failure of bringing in Singapore for training missions drove up costs by eliminating the ability to distribute costs between two tenants, so the Dutch costs went up.

The question then becomes why Strickland failed to provide an adequate incentive for Singapore to come to Ohio. Additionally, is the Obama White House giving Strickland the cold shoulder when it comes to asking for assistance?

Either way, this seems like yet another example of Strickland failing to do enough to save Ohio jobs.

No comments:

Post a Comment

No profanity, keep it clean.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.