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NORTH MANCHESTER – Gov. Mitch Daniels wouldn't say Thursday that he'd support training grants and tax abatements General Motors Corp. is expected to ask of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. The incentives would be part of a possible $46 million retooling of GM's Allen County assembly plant.
Daniels was in North Manchester to chair a meeting of the IEDC Board of Directors. At the same time, the Allen County Council was voting unanimously to give GM tax abatements on $27 million worth of equipment that would be part of the project - if GM decides to undertake it.
Bankrupt GM is considering making the Allen County plant flexible enough to produce heavy-duty Chevrolet Silverados and GMC Sierras on lines that now make light-duty trucks. In its application to the county, GM said the plant would lose 50 of its 2,600 workers if it doesn't undertake the project.
Daniels, a Republican, has been critical of the Obama administration's efforts to revive GM and Chrysler LLC. On Thursday, Daniels said GM is in the "handout business."
Asked whether he'd support state incentives to upgrade GM's Allen County plant, Daniels said the IEDC is more interested in using incentives to create jobs than retaining existing ones.
Indiana has more than 5,000 GM employees, but Daniels said those jobs have been retained at great cost to the taxpayer.
"With GM, it's going to be $1 million a worker," he said. "But what's done is done. We're rooting for the workers."
Chrysler employs about 4,000 at Indiana factories. Daniels said he didn't tell Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock to fight Chrysler's bankruptcy settlement but strongly supported it.
Mourdock sought to stop the creation of a new company because three state funds stood to lose $6 million on Chrysler bonds. Mourdock appealed a bankrupcty court ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, costing the funds up to $2 million in legal fees. The high court declined to take the case.
