Thirty Seconds Of Deception From The Kochs

It's still 2015, but the first political ad of the 2016 campaign to get heavy rotation in my area is a deceptive attack ad from Americans For Prosperity, the Koch brothers' 501 (c)(3) tax exempt "charitable" foundation.  Despite the fast-talking disclaimers, the ad is on behalf of incumbent Senator Robbie Portman, whose opponent is former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland.  Robbie is trailing in the polls at the moment.

The ad features a dentally-challenged ex-employee of the German shipping company DHL.  From 2003 to 2008, DHL's main American hub was the old air base in Wilmington, Ohio.  They closed that hub in late 2008, at the height of the Great Crash of '08.  The ex-employee says all the Wilmington jobs moved to Kentucky, and it was all somehow Ted Strickland's fault and he did nothing about it.



How about a little truth?

In the fall of '08, our economy was ugly.  Like other companies, DHL was failing badly.  They closed their largest hub, Wilmington, eventually laying off over 7,000 at that location.  They also closed hubs in Allentown, PA and Riverside, CA, and closed 18 sorting centers across the U.S.  They slashed their annual American operating expenses from $5.4 billion to less than $1 billion, and laid off almost 10,000 nationally.

The Wilmington DHL jobs did not simply migrate to Kentucky.  DHL contracted with UPS to use UPS employees and their huge Louisville UPS hub for some continued DHL domestic cargo service, but soon enough DHL ceased all air and ground operations in the U.S.  Those old Ohio DHL jobs didn't "move," they vanished, gone for good.  DHL killed them.

DHL's closure announcement came as a surprise to everyone.  In truth, Gov. Strickland and Sen. Sherrod Brown led a big bipartisan lobbying effort to stop DHL from closing and keep those jobs in Wilmington.  They didn't succeed, but they tried like hell.  Strickland obtained $10 million in federal job-retraining funds for the displaced workers.  Dedicated out-sourcer Rob Portman did nothing.

Eventually, DHL did resume American operations.  In 2013, it opened its new but much smaller U.S. hub in the Greater Cincinnati airport in Hebron, Ky.  It employs around 1,500 people.

The Koch brothers/Portman ad is a damnable lie.  The Kochs have vowed to spend $1.5 million in Ohio for the 2016 election.  Many more lies are coming.