Make wishtv.com your home page

Holcomb blamed for losing Carrier jobs to Mexico

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – The decision by the Carrier Corporation to move 1,400 jobs from Indianapolis to Mexico continues to be a potent political issue.

The AFL-CIO is supporting Democrat John Gregg in the race for governor and it’s blaming Republican Eric Holcomb for the loss of Carrier jobs because, it said Holcomb supports the Mike Pence policies that led to the job shift.

Coincidentally, Governor Mike Pence gave his version of the Carrier story during a rally Tuesday in Newton, Iowa, a city that lost manufacturing jobs when the Maytag Corporation pulled out.

“They said we love the Indiana record but they said, number one, all of our competitors are already in Mexico,” said Pence in discribing a meeting with company executives. “And they said, number two, the avalanche of regulations coming out of Washington, DC just caused us to say enough is enough.”

AFL-CIO President Brett Voorhies complained that the Pence administration gave incentives to Carrier and failed to recover all of them when the company decided to leave.

“The Pence/Holcomb.. that’s all they did,” he said, “is just basically shrug their shoulders, you know, sorry we can’t get ya a deal, bye bye, you’re going on to Mexico.”

That makes Carrier an issue in the race for President as well as the race for governor. Carrier is also an issue in the U.S. Senate race between Democrat Evan Bayh and Republican Todd Young.

Yet, so far, no one has come up with a way to keep the 1,400 jobs here.