This page was last updated on November 2, 2011.
Governor to blame; Bernie Hall; Beaver County Times; November 2, 2011. An editor’s note asserts, “The writer is president of United Steelworkers of America Local 8183.”
A previous letter from Mr. Hall was entitled “Restore fairness in organizing.”
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“In an Oct. 23 article, Jack Manning criticized the Beaver-Lawrence Labor Council for endorsing Joe Spanik and Tony Amadio for county commissioner.”
[RWC] Since the article to which Mr. Hall refers is not on the BCT website, I don’t know if his representation is correct. That said, a piece I found on Mr. Manning’s campaign website may have been the ultimate source. From what I read, Mr. Manning’s comments simply reflect left-on-left in-fighting.
“Mr. Manning went on to say that the current commissioners let Horsehead leave Beaver County. Nothing can be further from the truth. From day one, the commissioners did as much as anyone to keep Horsehead in Beaver County. It was Commissioners Amadio and Spanik who led the effort to bring all the relevant groups together and to try and put a package together to save the plant.”
[RWC] From what Mr. Hall wrote, all Messrs. Amadio and Spanik did was organize some meetings. If they did more, Mr. Hall should have noted it.
“In the end it was the governor’s administration that didn’t come through. While other states were working aggressively to attract Horsehead to build their $350 million plant in their state, Gov. Corbett’s representatives were telling us we don’t view job retention the same as job creation.”
[RWC] I don’t know if it was a factor or not, but Mr. Hall failed to note North Carolina is a right-to-work state. As for Mr. Hall’s assertion about what Mr. Corbett’s representatives allegedly said, the only articles mentioning this used Mr. Hall as the source.
“I don’t speak for the labor council, but those who wish to earn their endorsement may want to look at the work the current commissioners did to help try to save facilities such as Armstong [sic] and Horsehead. While we may not always agree, the fact is they were there when we needed them to be.”
[RWC] According to Mr. Hall, Messrs. Amadio and Spanik are zero for two in trying to keep local businesses. I’m glad they aren’t running the Steelers. So why is Mr. Hall so high on Messrs. Amadio and Spanik? It can’t be just because they are both Democrats, can it?
What all involved seem to miss is neither the County nor the Commonwealth should have to make special deals to attract or retain businesses. The best deal should be available all the time to all businesses. That is, our regulatory and tax policies should always be such that they aren’t a business impediment. That does not mean giveaways.
© 2004-2011 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.