Manufacturing 'Czar' Named

[kskiska]

California Executive Tapped After Bush's First Choice Scuttled

Nearly eight months after announcing he would name a manufacturing "czar," President Bush yesterday nominated an executive of a California carpet company for the new position of assistant commerce secretary for manufacturing and services.

The president tapped Albert A. Frink Jr., 61, co-founder and executive vice president of Fabrica International, as his point person on issues facing the ailing manufacturing sector. Last month, Bush intended to name Nebraska executive Anthony F. Raimondo, but the nomination was scuttled after it emerged that Raimondo's Behlen Manufacturing Co. had laid off U.S. workers, then opened a plant in Beijing.

As an immigrant who helped build Fabrica into a 400-employee operation, the Mexican-born Frink carried no such baggage.

(snip)

The National Association of Manufacturers hailed Frink's nomination, calling him "an excellent advocate." But Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), the likely Democratic presidential nominee, called the move a "manufacturing mirage," and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ridiculed the nomination.

"This is cold comfort to the 8.4 million Americans still looking for work," Pelosi said in a statement. "Manufacturing workers want action, not another government employee."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62653-2004Apr8.html

[NWHarkness]

1. Here's his qualification

"Call ’em crazy, but Newport Beach carpet kings Mike Derderian and Scott D. Guenther gave $5,000 each to the Bush recount. Amid the early ’90s recession (which, incidentally, was shepherded in by George W. Bush’s father), Derderian threatened to move his Royalty Carpet Mills from Irvine to Arizona. "Workers’ comp, group health insurance—these things cripple a company," he explained to the Register at the time. Calling workers’ compensation "a license to steal," Derderian’s solution was to fire human beings and replace them with machines. "With robots, you don’t have to worry about workers’ comp," he said. Guenther calls the rugs his Fabrica International in Santa Ana produces "the Rolls-Royce of carpeting." He was also an investor in what was once considered the Rolls-Royce of upscale restaurants that catered to Newport’s nouveau riche. But the glitzy Rex went out of business, which makes it the DeLorean of eateries. Guenther’s partner, Albert A. Frink of Newport Coast, gave the Bush recount $1,000. "


http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/01/20/news-coker.php

[Eye and Monkey]

2. Why do we have "czars"?

Something doesn't sound quite right with that.

[name not needed]

3. cause were gonna be overthrown

and have an evil empire installed *coughbushcough*

[mobuto]

5. What, you don't like the language of totalitarian despots

being expropriated by the government of a western democracy?

When will Bush annoint his Outsourcing Fuehrer? Healthcare Duce? Housing Khan?

[struggle4progress]

4. I was hoping for a fast food executive. /eom