Today’s GM jobs announcement not possible if Holcomb/Indiana GOP had gotten their wish on auto rescue
INDIANAPOLIS – Eric Holcomb was on the wrong side of history when he opposed the rescue of nearly 100,000 Hoosier jobs and an auto industry on the brink of extinction.
In 2009, Holcomb sided with Richard Mourdock and his lawsuit against the auto rescue. In fact, he defended Mourdock by saying it was about “having the character” to “stand up for the rule of law.” Holcomb should tell that to the thousands of Hoosiers and their families who nearly saw their lives dramatically altered if the rescue never happened.
“Eric Holcomb turned his back on Hoosier workers when they needed him the most – but now Republicans like Holcomb want to take credit for jobs announcements like General Motors in Marion. Eric, you can’t have your cake and eat it too,” said John Zody, Chairman. “Eric Holcomb put his ideology ahead of the state during the Great Recession. And now, he is trying to have it both ways when it comes to the huge success of the auto industry. But Hoosiers know better. Holcomb’s political agenda is why Hoosiers can’t wait to go in new a direction and elect John Gregg as governor this November.”
Since its rescue, the auto industry has come roaring back with 2015 marking the best year on record. Hoosiers have a large part in this success, including today’s GM announcement in Marion. This exciting news wouldn’t have been possible if Eric Holcomb and the Indiana Republican Party had their way and allowed Hoosiers to lose their jobs.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: HOLCOMB OPPOSED THE AUTO RESCUE
Holcomb Defended Richard Mourdock’s Law Suit Against The Auto Rescue, Said Suit Was “About Standing Up For The Rule Of Law.”“Eric Holcomb, Chairman of the Indiana Republican Party commented, ‘This was about standing up for the rule of law and having the character to do so. As Governor Daniels has said in interviews and in his book, Richard Mourdock showed us what real leadership looks like. It is typical form for Senator Harry Reid and Congressman Joe Donnelly to mislead voters, as they are desperate to run from their own failed bailouts.” [Mourdock Campaign Release, 10/2/12]
As State Treasurer, Mourdock Launched Lawsuit Against Federal Government To Stop The Auto Rescue. “Before Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock pulled off a historic upset in this year’s Republican Senate primary, he was best known to most political observers as the man who tried to stop Chrysler’s government-brokered bankruptcy. Mourdock, who toppled six-term incumbent Sen. Richard Lugar by 21 percentage points in the May primary, sued the federal government in 2009 on behalf of the Major Moves Construction Fund and state police and teacher pension funds that held investments in the automaker. [South Bend Tribune, 9/29/12]
· Mourdock Said Auto Rescue Was “Illegal.” An October 2010 op-ed in the South Bend Tribune said: “By any traditional legal analysis, fundamental elements of the Obama administration’s Chrysler bankruptcy plan were illegal. It turned 200 years of U.S. bankruptcy law on its head by awarding more value to a select group of unsecured creditors than to secured creditors. Others are apparently willing to tolerate the violation of federal bankruptcy laws simply because they liked the result: It helped their friends. But most Americans, including the Hoosier retirees who had their property stolen away, see such picking and choosing by the federal government as fundamentally un-American.” [South Bend Tribune, Mourdock Op-Ed, 10/9/10]
Indiana Would Have Lost Nearly 100,000 Jobs Without The Auto Rescue. According to the Center for Automotive Research, failure to implement the auto rescue would have meant 95,709 jobs in Indiana would have been lost. [Center for Automotive Research, 5/26/09]
· Mourdock Challenge Endangered 100,000 Indiana Jobs. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reported, “More than 1 million U.S. jobs – and more than 100,000 in Indiana – are riding on whether the bankruptcies of Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp. are quick and orderly, according to a prominent research center’s study. But if Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock is successful in stopping the proposed sale of Chrysler – in which state bondholders would take a $6 million loss – it could drag out that bankruptcy and convince some GM bondholders to do likewise, experts said.” [Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, 6/9/09]
Colwell Column: “No State, Other Than Michigan And Ohio, Benefitted More Than Indiana From The Successful Effort To Save The American Auto Industry.” According to South Bend Tribune communist Jack Colwell, “No state, other than Michigan and Ohio, benefited more than Indiana from the successful effort to save the American auto industry. Yet some Hoosier politicians, knowing better but shamelessly seeking to take advantage of voter dislike of anything termed ‘bailout,’ claim that the decisive, successful government effort to save General Motors and Chrysler was neither successful nor needed. Chrysler, rather than liquidating and sending the unemployment rate in the Kokomo area to higher than 20 percent, adds jobs and announces investments there. The still-too-high rate there is dropping, down from 12.6 percent a year ago to 11.7 percent, not much above Indiana’s statewide rate.” [South Bend Tribune, Column, 10/3/10]
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