Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Fischer burns GE and Larry Clark can prove it

Louisville, KY - Mayor Greg Fischer may be the single reason GE will lose 6000 Louisville jobs and Representative Larry Clark inadvertently told us why. We have been reporting on Fischer's incompetence, and willingness to sell Louisville out for his own family gain, and have used the now defunct Workplace Training facility project in the West End as one example. Now it turns out that he has possibly intentionally helped rid us of GE as well.

Big words I know but you will want to see the rest.
Insider Louisville posted what seemed like a harmless Q and A they had with Greg Fischer but a couple of things stand boldly out. You can read it here

The first question alone rang all kinds of alarm bells because Greg Fischer states in regards to advanced manufacturing:

"We partnered with Lexington in the BEAM initiative. That’s an interesting sector, in that you’re seeing more automation taking place in advanced manufacturing. But we have about 100,000 workers between the two areas. You’re seeing the Georgetown plant of Toyota expanding, you see Ford continuing to make large investments here. The GE-Electrolux deal is interesting in terms of how that could turn out." 

Of course this verifies our story from Monday and aids us in the belief that Greg Fischer will lose his pending lawsuit, brought against him by former Ford executive Jay Morgan, who put the whole package together. That is yet another story coming later.

Once again Greg Fischer put someone ahead of Louisville, by turning down federal funds for the training facility in Louisville, until he could secure a deal to keep the West End out of it in my opinion.

At least this time it wasn't Southern Indiana I guess. No this time it is Lexington.

Wonder why he has worked in conjunction with GLI to create a 'region centric' business community instead of a 'Louisville centric' one? We will answer that one soon

The big picture gets even worse but there is one question that must be asked. Would Louisville need a world class workplace training facility at all if we eliminated manufacturing in Louisville altogether?

As we have reported previously, GE was essentially given a $40 million take it or leave it kind of deal, which pales in comparison to the likes of Ford Motor Company who received upwards of $300 million.

Enter Representative Larry Clark and House Bill 396..

A little known fact is that Clark had been able to get a $325 million incentive package passed for GE in March of this year putting GE in the same favorable position that Ford currently enjoys. So what happened?

Greg Fischer pulled that plug in August according to Clark's comments on the Insider Louisville article. Don't worry we have a copy if it disappears.

Read this last question from IL and Mayor Fischer's response:


IL: State Rep. Larry Clark expressed disappointment with you that you weren’t more involved pushing economic incentives for GE. What do you think of the criticism he has made?

GF: He’s just uninformed. So he must have had a moment of frustration when he said that. Our team has worked with GE on so many projects, including the development of First Build here. We were in meetings with GE’s top executive days before the whole process went down, had specific discussions with them about all of these issues. So Larry was just not in the loop, so he must have been frustrated.

Why would Fischer throw Clark under the bus?

 Because House Speaker Pro Tem Clark was a strong supporter and active participant of a team seeking federal funds to build a world class Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Education and Training initiative in West Louisville.

Speaker Clark jumped on board early with the proponent of the initiative and organized meetings with Ford, GE, and UPS representatives in his office to develop a strategy for the facility befor Greg Fischer even had a clue.

Clark had several meetings with Simmons College President Kevin Cosby and College Board Members, including Jim King, in 2012 to encourage their support and participation in the initiative. The Speaker later attended an organizational meeting in Mayor Gregory Fischer's office with representatives from Ford, GE, UPS, the UAW, the IUE, JCTC, Simmons, University of Louisville, JCPS and members of the City's economic development team to develop a plan for getting federal funds for the West Louisville facility.

Larry Clark worked very closely with work group member IUE-CWA Political Director Steve Wimsatt and other work group members, who were shocked when Mayor Fischer pulled the plug on the planned $25 million , FEDERALLY FUNDED, West Louisville facility in December 2012.

Accordingly you can be assured that Clark can be called to testify against Fischer in the court case filed by Jay Morgan.

Why has that case been help up for over 10 months for no logical reason?

Because Fischer is liable, in my opinion, and he has to have time to either shut those witnesses down, or destroy their credibility. Representative Larry Clark, Metro Council President Jim King, Councilman David James, and a host of others will be called to testify on behalf of Morgan, and Fischer has to avoid that at all costs.

But why sell out GE?

GE, once it has been fully abandoned and the jobs leave Louisville, will be dead EPA wasteland that will take a few years and millions of dollars to clean up. What happens then?

Millions in federal grant money for cleanup to be exploited become available. Then a fire sale for the property.

Dirt cheap land that will be developed probably for some sort of warehouses perhaps for Kentucky Bourbon but will not replace the 6000 jobs lost for sure.

Many of the wealthy elite Democratic mafia members will benefit including in my opinion, Greg Fischer himself, whose second term as Mayor will have ended by then, Council President Jim King, who has his hand in practically every deal seemingly in Louisville, their personal preferred real estate land developers, and who knows how much in kickbacks.

Speculation? 

You bet but based on history, and the ongoing cronyism we continue to uncover every day, it is a very reasonable speculation.


Stay tuned it gets better..........



Listen daily from 7-8pm at The Ed Springston Show. Also visit Louisville Politics for more details and in depth coverage of local political and news issues.

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