Politics & Government

Obama Campaign Tour Stops in Downtown Rochester

Small business owner Marilyn Trent said she has been able to expand her firm because of Obama-supported economic recovery bills.

The Obama campaign's weeklong "Michigan Road to Recovery" tour made its first stop Tuesday morning at a downtown Rochester business that is feeling the "ripple effect" of the federal auto industry bailout and the year-old American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"The numbers tell the story," said Marilyn Trent, founder of , a graphic arts firm. "In the last year and a half because of this recovery and because of the stimulus package my company has been able to add a second office in Detroit. I kept six young, talented people in Michigan.

"No one has told me they are suffering because of these two bills that were passed."

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Trent's colorful Second Street office was the backdrop of the campaign tour stop.

She told how when the economic downtown happend in 2008, one of her major clients filed for bankruptcy because they were a direct supplier to General Motors. Because she was diversified, Trent was able to keep her firm afloat and find work. But after of the passage of the economic stimulus bills, she has been able to expand; clients right now include the Detroit Historical Museum, the Detroit Institute of Art, the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and Eaton Steel Co.

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Last year, produced for the Art X Detroit celebration.

Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner said Trent's story is being told across the county and across Michigan. 

"What we've learned is that not only is it a question of the auto industry and the amazing recovery that has happened because of the president's support, but it's about a ripple effect," Meisner said. "What we're seeing here at a graphic design firm is that we're not just talking about buying tires and steel. There's an economic ripple effect from these automotive jobs that makes it extraordinary."

Meisner said the auto industry is responsible for 1.1 million jobs in Michigan, but that it's not necessarily just about statistics: it's about actual money being pumped into the shops and restaurants of towns like Rochester. 

"Support for the auto industry isn't about some nostalgic notion," Meisner said. "The fact is that this is the industry of the future that has a multiplier effect that ripples through the entire economy."

The weeklong tour follows last week's news of an EPIC-MRA poll that shows Mitt Romney leading Obama 46 to 45 percent among likely Michigan voters, according to the Detroit News. Matt McGrath, the Michigan Press Secretary for the Obama campaign, said the tour was planned more than a month ago and is not related to the poll news.

McGrath said the tour was designed to highlight the state's various sectors that are benefiting from the revival of the American auto industry and Michigan’s manufacturing resurgence — and to reiterate Romney's 2008 stance against a federal assistance plan for Detroit automakers.

Romney has defended his stance, saying the automakers should have been left alone to go through a managed bankruptcy process — but that he did not wish for the companies to disappear.

Meisner said the record speaks for itself.

"Despite having some background in Michigan, Governor Romney has been well-documented in his position opposing support for this industry and letting the industry die on the vine, which would be a fiscal disaster for Oakland County," he said. 

Trent said she hoped her conservative clients would understand her support for the Obama campaign tour. 

"I just think that as a small business owner it's my duty to come out and make a stand," she said. "If I'm doing well and I'm a small business in Michigan, then that part of Michigan is doing well."


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