Daniels defends lack of IEDC aid in Northwest Indiana region

INDIANAPOLIS | The Indiana Economic Development Corp. gave itself a one-year report card Thursday, but its marks for Northwest Indiana didn't improve much from a recent Times analysis.

Through November, the IEDC hadn't spent a dime in Lake or Porter counties. The IEDC's updated list now includes $302,000 to add 33 jobs at the Pepsi Americas bottling plant in Munster and $1.75 million to convince Fontanini Italian Meats & Sausages to move its production facility and 319 jobs to Portage from Chicago.

Overall, the seven-county northwest region received nearly $5.7 million, or about 3 percent of the $180 million in competitive incentives the IEDC dispersed statewide. That's up from the 1 percent that a Times analysis showed the region had received through November.

But even with the updated data, Northwest Indiana still fared worse than all five of the IEDC's economic zones.

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels was asked why the region fared so poorly.

"I'm sure not so sure, first of all, how useful it is to look at dollars of incentives compared to population," he said. "It may or may not really tell us about the level of focus or even success that they are bringing."

Daniels suggested the topic requires a more thorough examination.

"I'm very interested in the quality of the jobs which these incentives bring about," he said. "So I think you probably have to go a couple levels deeper."

Does that mean quality employers aren't interested in Northwest Indiana?

"I don't think it meant that at all. I'm not sure it means anything right at the moment," Daniels said.

"I'll say what I've said all along; I think that the northwest corridor is one of the most promising areas in the state for investment. I think we have to do some things to turn it loose. That's why we created the RDA (Regional Development Authority) after 30 years of people talking about it. That's why I'm so committed to the Major Moves program, the enormous disproportional impact of which would be on the toll corridor, including Northwest Indiana."

The IEDC list covers competitive projects, or those in which Indiana was vying for jobs with another state.

The corporation also issues a 2005 list of noncompetitive incentives. Northwest Indiana landed nine noncompetitive projects that received $621,890, or 5 percent of the $12.2 million the IEDC gave out statewide. Southeast Indiana was the only region to receive less noncompetitive incentive money than Northwest Indiana.