Taylor decries Ford closure as Perdue trumpets training grants

<p>The candidates for governor painted competing portraits of Georgia's economy on Friday.</p><p>Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor bemoaned the closure of the state's Ford Motor Co. plant south of Atlanta as the last Taurus sedan rolled off the 59-year-old assembly line and the doors rolled shut.</p><p>"It's a sad day for Georgia," Taylor said as he met with displaced Ford auto workers at a union hall.</p><p>Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, meanwhile, sought to counteract that bad news, trumpeting the arrival of 1,000 data processing jobs in Augusta. He followed that up with news that the state will receive up to $3 million in federal job training grants for auto workers left jobless in Georgia by Ford and GM. GM's plant in Doraville is also set to close.</p><p>Perdue has been promoting a new Kia Motor Co. plant set to open in Troup County near the Alabama border. Kia was lured to Georgia with a $258 million incentive package. Officials expect the plant will employ 2,893 workers.</p><p>Taylor and union leaders on Friday accused Perdue of not doing enough to keep Ford's assembly line running in Georgia. The company announced in January that the Hapeville, Ga. plant would be shuttered as part of a wider corporate restructuring. Taylor noted that some of the incentives handed to Kia should have gone to Ford instead. He added that Perdue didn't make a trip to Detroit to plead Georgia's case as other governors facing plant closures had done.</p><p>"Where was Sonny when this plant was on the chopping block?" Taylor asked. "He didn't lift a finger for these workers."</p><p>Taylor and Secretary of State Cathy Cox, his rival in the Democratic primary, had called in January for on Perdue to visit Detroit and lobby Ford executives on Georgia's behalf.</p><p>Perdue spokesman Dan McLagan said Friday that once it became clear that the Ford plant's closure was certain, Perdue did not think traveling to Detroit for "a photo op" would be useful Instead, he turned his attention to luring Kia to the state.</p><p>At a stop in Augusta on Friday as part of a 40-city campaign swing, Perdue said that 1,000 new jobs arriving in the area from ADP are "a testament to our strong business climate."</p><p>He made the announcement with Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver. The Development Authority of Augusta-Richmond County worked with ADP to convince them to select Augusta.</p><p>It was unclear how much the ADP jobs would pay. ADP is investing more than $30 million in the Augusta center.</p><p>Perdue said the federal work force training money will help auto workers recover from the twin hits of the Ford and GM closures.</p><p>Perdue said he had applied for the grant from the U.S. Department Labor with state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond.</p><p>Georgia is one of eight states eligible to receive $1.5 million the first year and another $1.5 million the year after that.</p><p>The federal dollars must be matched with state funds.</p><p>Still, Charlie Flemming, president of the Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council AFL-CIO, said workers at the plant felt abandoned by Perdue, who seemed to throw up his hands when bad news started coming from Detroit.</p><p>"He won't be getting any votes out of this assembly plant I can tell you that," Flemming said.</p><p>_______</p><p>On The Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cdee2c)</p><p>HASH(0x1cdeed4)</p>