Resist telecom immunity! Call your Representative today!
Joe Robach stands before Gleason Works in his ad, but his claim of 650 jobs for that company is not entirely accurate.
New York State Senator Joe Robach’s recent campaign advertisment, touting his record of bringing “our fair share” to Rochester, has him standing in front of Gleason Works on University Avenue in Rochester. Below him, a caption reads “650 jobs for Gleason Works.” There’s just one problem with that caption: the 650 jobs Gleason Works currently provides Rochester is actually 300 jobs less than it was two years ago.
In July of 2006, Gleason Works underwent an 18.1 million dollar renovation, upgrading equipment and modifying their 750,000 square foot University Avenue facility. According to Monroe County’s website, of that 18.1 million dollars, 2.5 million dollars came from the Empire State Development grants, 1 million came from an RG&E grant, half a million came from the City of Rochester and 1 million dollars was secured through an unspecified form of direct NYS funding. Additionally, COMIDA approved the project, meaning that Gleason has been receiving tax breaks from the County of Monroe since then.
The MC communications page states that this deal was to help Gleason, “compete effectively in a global market, while retaining 625 local jobs.” The website goes on to state that “The company considered several strategic options including relocating some, or all, of its Rochester operations to other facilities in other countries,” though there is no corroborating evidence that this migration was imminent.
There are a couple of problems with the claim as made in the Robach ad. The first is that the graphic states “650 jobs for Gleason Works,” without noting that shortly after the deal they struck, Gleason let go of the other 300 employees they currently had working for them. According to sources, Gleason was handing out pink slips at the back door on the same day they were announcing the renovation project at the front.
The ad does not say “650 more jobs,” nor does it say “300 less jobs.” But by simply putting the words “650 jobs” on the ad, it certainly seems to imply that the 650 jobs in question are newly-secured jobs, which is clearly not the case.
A second problem with the advertisement is that, of the total funds used for the Gleason renovation project, it would appear as though Joe Robach secured only 1 million dollars, less than 1/18th of the total project cost and a fifth of the money secured by non-Gleason entities. A search of the legislative information in Albany turned up no bills sponsored by Senator Robach mentioning Gleason Works; I am unable to assess exactly where the million dollars came from.
Still another problem is the fact that his ad says 650 jobs but both the Monroe County website and the Drum Major Institute’s roundup of 2006 legislative races both show the actual number to be 625 jobs. The Senator’s website does not seem to mention Gleason Works at all.
Asked about the message of the advertisement, Senator Robach’s Chief of Staff, Kirk Morris, said that it was “certainly not the intention” of the ad to leave a false impression. He did not have the name of the bill or grant awarded to Gleason at hand. Gleason Works was contacted for a response, but as of publishing, no one was available to respond. This site will be updated as new information becomes available.
You can see the campaign ad here:
Tags: Gleason Works, Joe Robach, New York State, Rochester