| Beshear Leaves Budget to Court Ford Motor Co. |
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On the most important and last day of the 2008 General Assembly, Governor Beshear left town. He was not a part of the behind scenes scramble to help his follow Democrats find enough votes to pass the Executive State Budget.
Instead, Beshear was in Dearborn, Michigan meeting with the leadership of Ford Motor Company. With him from Kentucky was Mayor Jerry Abramson of Metro Louisville. The Governor and Mayor are trying to head off an economic disaster this summer in Louisville.
Many legislators wondered why, on this important day, the Governor had to leave town. A meeting with Ford Motor Co. officials could probably be scheduled at almost any time. Unless, as several have wondered, is this an emergency trip to try to convince Ford not to close their Louisville Plant?
Ford, which lost $15.3 billion in the last two years, and faces another rough sales year in 2008, will be reviewing all its options for closing more U.S. factories. One of those factories that could be hurt by depressing sales, is the Louisville Assembly Plant.
The future of Ford Motor Co. operations in Louisville was the subject of the trip by Gov. Steve Beshear and Metro Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson. Officially, the Governor’s Office said that the visit is an opportunity for Beshear to get acquainted with senior executives at Ford. Two of these key executives are expected to be Joe Hinrichs, global vice president of manufacturing and Mark Fields, executive president.
Kentucky State economic development incentives are being offered to entice Ford Motor Co to establish a new vehicle line to the Louisville Assembly Plant. As sales of the Explorer have fallen, workers at the plant face the elimination of the 1,000-employee night shift this summer. Ford has committed to manufacturing a new vehicle there by fall 2011, when the current contract with the United Auto Workers expires.
“We have put all the tools on the table,” Abramson spokesman Chris Poynter said today. “We have a good work force here. We have the incentives in place that allow them, if they decide to bring a new vehicle here, to retool the factory.
Beshear was accompanied on the trip by John E. Hindman, secretary of the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development and Joseph Reagan, head of Greater Louisville, Inc. This trip is officially being seem as a “transitional economic development effort” to help establish a working team of Kentucky officials for mega project development.
Many of the same people traveling Beshear to Dearborn will probably travel with him this summer to Asia.
Beshear will also journey to Japan in June to meet with Toyota executives and other automotive suppliers who do business here.
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