President-elect Donald Trump gave one number on the amount of jobs that would be saved and a union president, another. So which is it?
INDIANAPOLIS A Marion County judge has ordered the Indiana governor's office to turn over emails between then-Gov. Mike Pence and President-elect Donald Trump about jobs at Carrier Corp.
In a Monday ruling, Superior Court Judge Heather Welch gave Gov. Eric Holcomb, who succeeded Pence when Pence became vice president, 30 days to deliver the documents, dating from Nov. 14 to 29, 2016, to Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana. The nonprofit first requested them in December 2016.
Trump slammed Carrier during his 2016 campaign for president after the company announced that it was cutting 2,100 jobs in Indiana, a move that included closing its factory on Indianapolis' west side and moving those jobs to Monterey, Mexico. Trump threatened to "tax the hell" out of Carrier's products.
Later, he and Pence, then the vice president elect, ironed out a deal to keep about half of the jobs from going to Mexico. As part of the agreement, the plant received up to $7 million in tax incentives and training grants as long as it stayed open in Indianapolis for 10 years.
► Jan. 10: Indiana Carrier plant to lay off 215 workers on Thursday
► September 2017: In Indiana, Trump promises 'revolutionary change' to tax code
► August 2017: After 6 months, Pence turned over all state-related AOL emails
Under the deal, Carrier agreed to invest $16 million in upgrades and automation. But despite the deal, more than 600 workers at Carrier's furnace factory in Indianapolis still lost their jobs.
United Technologies (UTX), Carrier's parent company, said in a news release that 1,100 workers remain at the Indianapolis plant. The United Steelworkers of America Union Local 1999 officials told Popular Mechanics magazine in May that the number of workers remain is really 700.
The Citizens Action Coalition's complaint alleged "violations of the Indiana Access to Public Records Act" in withholding the documents.
► July 2017: Carrier to lay off 300 on 6-month anniversary of Trump's presidency
► May 2017: Carrier to lay off 600 employees starting this summer
In a statement to the media, Kerwin Olson, the coalition's executive director, called Welch's order one of the most significant judicial rulings on governmental transparency ever issued in Indiana.
The ruling reinforces the idea that "government is the servant of the people, not vice versa, and that all Hoosiers are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of their state government," Olson said.
"The governors office values transparent government and will follow the law," Rachel Hoffmeyer, Holcomb's press secretary, said in email.
► March 2017: Carrier deal touted by Trump unusual for Indiana
► December 2016: Carrier union leader: Fight about jobs, not Trump
The governor's office has offered to work with the Citizens Action Coalition in an effort to narrow its request for records, Hoffmeyer said.
"The governors office remains willing to work with Citizens Action Coalition to efficiently and effectively provide it with public records," she said.
Poster Comment:
Soon we will learn some of the details on the Trump/Pence plans to subsidize Carrier, moving hundreds of American jobs to Mexico. Ross Perot was right about the Giant Sucking Sound of American jobs leaving.
Pence has a 30 day deadline to cough up the incriminating emails.
"The Giant Sucking Sound of American jobs leaving" - Ross Perot
GOP ran the spoiler candidate Poppy NWO Reconquista Bush, so that pro-American Ross Perot would lose to Bill Clinton.