FTA:

"I believe that Sen. Vance's comments were spoken without ... real knowledge of what the workforce situation in Ohio is," says Ross McGregor, CEO of Pentaflex Inc. His company makes brake and axle components for trucks. Which trucks? "All of them," he says proudly. He tries to be diplomatic about Sen. Vance. "I don't think he really understands from a boots-on-the-ground perspective what employers are dealing with in trying to have a consistent and reliable workforce. If he were to apply a business mindset to this situation, he would see the benefit that we get from simply being able to rely on somebody coming to work every day."

Eventually, he stops trying so hard to be diplomatic: "It doesn't help all the memes going around about eating cats and geese and crazy --- like that. None of that helps." The McGregors have been active in business and community life in Springfield for more than a century, and the CEO is proud of that longevity, which also gives him a little bit of perspective that the senator seems to lack.

"He is a highly intelligent man," he says of Vance, "and he has a fantastic education. But from a business standpoint, I don't get why he doesn't understand what a stable workforce means for us." He compares Springfield to Vance's hometown. "Springfield and Middletown are like twin sisters. The Appalachian migration--this is a documented historical fact"was real, and it was about jobs, people looking for jobs, here and on up into Detroit. They came here for jobs. They needed work. They needed to take care of their families. And that's exactly what the Haitians need as well. In Springfield, it's history repeating itself. Before it was the Haitians, it was German and Irish immigrants, and they were treated like ---. This is nothing new. It's not that there are no issues trying to assimilate 12,000 to 15,000 people in a community of 58,000. They are stressing our social services networks, our health care, and our education system. It's hard."