For three top politicians in Minnesota, Thursday was Ford day.
Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Democratic St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman sent a letter to the Ford Motor Co. president, asking for a meeting to talk about keeping the St. Paul Ford plant open. It is slated for closure next year.
The bipartisan letter touts the new state CARZ program, which became law in April to give the Highland Park site "significant financial benefits" to retool and stay open. It offers to have the St. Paul Port Authority buy the plant and acreage and lease it back to Ford to provide an "injection of funds."
Pawlenty and Coleman asked for an invitation to Dearborn, Mich., "to discuss these ideas and the opportunity for reinvestment in the St. Paul facility."
Meanwhile, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher was endorsed Thursday in her bid for governor by the Ford plant's union workers.
In receiving the nod from the United Auto Workers of Minnesota, she promoted her backing of the CARZ program at the Capitol. "I fought for CARZ because we need to do whatever it takes to keep these jobs right here in St. Paul," she said.
RACHEL E. STASSEN-BERGER
