Published Saturday, October 5, 2002
over lost
$7 million
By Michael Roknick
Herald Business Editor
Democratic state Senate candidate Kyle Klaric has turned up the heat in his race to unseat Republican Sen. Robert D. "Bob" Robbins by claiming the incumbent knew a $7 million state grant for developing the former Westinghouse Electric Corp. plant had been withdrawn but Robbins said nothing.
"The senator knew we were not getting the money months ago, but chose not to tell any of the people who were working so hard on revitalizing the old Westinghouse site,'' Klaric said in a news release.
Robbins denied all of Klaric's accusations.
"I'd like to know where he gets his information from,'' Robbins said.
Both men are vying for the 50th District seat that covers all of Mercer County.
On Sept. 19, Gov. Mark S. Schweiker's office publicly
acknowledged the state had yanked the grant originally awarded in the spring of 2000. Information required to receive the grant, such as engineering drawings and proof that matching funds were in place, was never provided by a March 6 deadline and the grant was withdrawn, Schweiker's office said.
Klaric said Robbins knew in April the state was pulling the grant.
"Why didn't he just come clean and tell us the money wasn't coming?'' Klaric questioned.
"It is absolutely false that I knew in April about this decision,'' Robbins responded.
"If he didn't know, he should have," Klaric said.
The state notified Penn-Northwest Development Corp. by a letter received on Sept. 16 that the grant was withdrawn and it was only after being notified by the local agency that he learned about the grant, Robbins said.
Further, Robbins said, he did everything to get the grant for Winner Development and is continuing to get state funding for other local projects such as improving the Broadway corridor in Farrell and Sharon and building Gateway Commons technical park in Hermitage.
In the end, it was up to Sharon-based Winner Development to provide the required information to get the funds, Robbins said. The company said it will reapply for the grant.
"It's now in Winner (Development's) hands of supplying the information and getting the application together to meet the requirements,'' Robbins said.
Robbins also took a shot at Klaric, raising questions about a state grant for computer training which the businessman's company, Premier Hydraulics in Farrell, received.
"Whatever happened to the training?'' Robbins asked.
Klaric said his company didn't receive a computer training grant but did get a grant for customized job training two years ago.
"We used the money to train people. What's wrong with that?'' Klaric said.