Thursday, May 15, 2008

Fischer puts Indiana before Kentucky

The latest from a Lunsford press release:
Greg Fischer says he’s a Kentucky businessman...
Greg Fischer has described himself as a Kentucky businessman on the campaign trail as well as in a mailing sent out in late March 2008 and in a press release announcing his campaign. [Fischer mailing, 3/22/2008]

...but he took tax breaks to move jobs out of Kentucky.
Fischer took tax breaks to move jobs out of Kentucky and train new workers in Indiana. One of Fischer’s companies, Medventure, which appears in his 60-second TV commercials, took $4.3 million in incentives to move from Louisville to Jeffersonville, Indiana, as well as an additional $300,000 in incentives from the State of Indiana to train new Indiana workers. [Associated Press 7/19/2005]

Fischer registered his ice machine company in Kentucky yet headquartered it in Indiana. Even though SerVend International was registered as a corporation with the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Fischer kept the business operating in Indiana. The business was operating out of a garage with two employees in Sellersburg, Indiana, when his dad bought the company. However, when it came time for the company to expand, on two separate occasions, the company built large plants in Jeffersonville and Sellersburg instead of building those plants in Kentucky. [Business filings from the Kentucky Secretary of State; Business First of Louisville, 7/1/1985 and 8/20/1990]

Fischer chose to create Indiana jobs and even though a small amount of his employees may have commuted fromLouisville, his companies were providing tax revenue to Indiana instead of Kentucky. In a time when Kentucky is in desperate need of revenue as services are being cut and tuition is going up at public universities, these Greg Fischer companies are sending money to Indianapolis to help keep Indiana services running and Indiana tuition low.

Can Indiana Businessman Greg Fischer be trusted to put Kentucky first?

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