A Cash Landing for Fisher When Ohio Jobs Fly To Kentucky Airport

There looks to be an interesting story about $4,800 contributed to Lee Fisher's U.S. Senate campaign some six weeks ago. The two $2,400 checks came from John and Mary Dasburg of Key Biscayne, Fla. John Dasburg -- besides being a Bush-Cheney donor -- is the CEO and President of Astar Air Cargo, a company that is partly owned by DHL, the German package delivery giant that is eliminating about 8,000 jobs at its air hub in Wilmington, Ohio. It now turns out that some of the jobs from Ohio, where Fisher served as director of economic development, are moving to a hub in Northern Kentucky, where Astar Air Cargo is getting aid from that state to expand operations in Boone County. Astar Air Cargo flies packages for DHL. Eleven months ago, Fisher portrayed DHL's abandonment of Wilmington as an economic catastrophe. Fisher's November 2008 press release follows:

Governor, Lt. Governor Release Statement Today on
DHL’s Decision to Discontinue Delivery Service in United States

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 10, 2008

Columbus, Ohio – Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher, also director of the Ohio Department of Development, today released the following statement on the decision by DHL to discontinue domestic delivery services in the United States.

“We are extremely disappointed to learn about DHL’s decision to discontinue its domestic delivery service in the United States. This is heart-breaking news for the city of Wilmington and Southwest Ohio.

“While our DHL Economic Task Force, organized by Lt. Governor Lee Fisher and Wilmington Mayor David Raizk, had worked for a different outcome, we will now focus on doing everything we can to help the affected workers, their families and their communities. Workforce investment boards across the region have come together to offer job placement and retraining resources to those who need it, and the Wilmington Business Resource Center is open to anyone looking for business assistance and guidance.

“We stand ready to support the people of Southwest Ohio in whatever way we can, and we will continue our charge to work every day to grow jobs in Ohio.”

But Astar took hundreds of jobs away to Boone County, and Fisher took the campaign checks on Aug. 14, 2009. Astar Air Cargo has leased 34,000 feet of space for office in Florence, Ky. It also got a reported $2.3 million job-creation tax incentive from Kentucky's Economic Development Finance Authority. The jobs are supposed to pay an average $71,000 per.

Last July, the Cincinnati Business Courier reported that Astar itself was leaving Wilmington, Ohio for Kentucky: "A company spokesman said Astar's relocation from Wilmington will begin when the build-out of its office is complete in Florence, which is expected to be in August. All of its current employees in Wilmington have been offered jobs in Florence or at the Boone County airport facility, he said."

By the way, Dasburg has been a major contributor to Republicans. He's given money to Katherine Harris, the former Florida Secretary of State; John McCain, Norm Coleman, Mel Martinez, more than $52,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Bush-Cheney, $50,000 to the Republican National Committee.