During a wide-ranging interview with Huntsville radio’s WVNN on Friday, former Gov. Jim Folsom, Jr., who also was Alabama’s longest-serving lieutenant governor, discussed economic development in the state and how it has evolved since he was governor in the early-1990s.
It was while Folsom was governor that Mercedes-Benz announced its intentions in 1993 to locate a manufacturing facility in Vance, just outside of Tuscaloosa. That facility was the first of several auto manufacturers to be built in Alabama over the next two-and-a-half decades and putting Alabama in the position to be the country’s second-largest auto manufacturing state.
Folsom acknowledged much of the groundwork had been laid before assuming the governorship after his predecessor former Gov. Guy Hunt was convicted of state ethics law violations. However, he explained to WVNN’s “The Jeff Poor Show” how even back then, executives from Mercedes-Benz saw Alabama’s potential.
“When the German team chose Tuscaloosa as a site for Mercedes-Benz, they told me – and they were very personal, and they sincerely meant this – they said, ‘You know there’s an old German fairy tale, it’s really German in its origin, but we’ve all heard of the tale of ‘The Ugly Duckling.’’ When the ugly duckling was told he was not a beautiful swan – when he looked in the mirror, he found out he was a beautiful swan. And they told me that Alabama reminded them, and the people of Alabama sort of in their psyche maybe because we’ve heard that so many times. They’ve relayed that to me.”
“They said, ‘Look, Alabama’s a beautiful state. You’ve got great infrastructure – highways, rivers. You’ve got great culture here. We wouldn’t be coming here if our people didn’t want to live here, to work here,’” he continued. “And they said, ‘Sometimes we continue to beat ourselves up and convince ourselves that we’re second-rate.’ I really don’t think we are. I think we are moving forward. We’ve got a lot of advantages over areas outside of this state. We can compete with anybody.”
When asked about Alabama’s current education woes, Folsom argued you could not solve them with just dollars. However, the former governor also said that the low marks the state’s education system and the perceptions that stem from it are not reflected by the companies that are deciding to locate here.
“I want to tell you this: If our school systems were so terrible, you wouldn’t be seeing Mazda come to Huntsville,” Folsom said. “You wouldn’t be seeing these international manufacturing companies coming here and locating if they thought there was some real problem there.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN in Huntsville.
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