The rescue of the American auto industry is likely to play a large role in the 2012 Ohio Senate race, where incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) will face a challenge from Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel (R). After Michigan, Ohio has the nation’s second largest auto industry, and the success of the auto rescue has been felt by suppliers and manufacturers across the state.

Since the 2008 rescue, America’s auto industry has rebounded, adding thousands of jobs, gaining market share, and posting record profits. Perhaps Mandel has missed those facts, because at the formal announcement of his Senate campaign Thursday, he hinted that he would be proposing a new plan to “rescue the auto industry,” the Youngstown Vindicator reports:

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, said he is developing a plan to “rescue the auto industry.”

When asked about the $82 billion government bailout of General Motors and Chrysler in 2009, Mandel said in a Thursday call to The Vindicator, “Our economy has not yet been rescued. So many people are still out of work.” [...]

“I’m not saying the bailout didn’t work,” Mandel said.

“Mandel’s claim to be putting together a plan to rescue the industry is a laughably candid example of how completely clueless he is as to what’s going on with Ohio’s middle class and how he’ll say anything to get elected,” Brown spokesperson Justin Barasky told the Vindicator.

It’s unclear why, given the success of the original auto rescue, Mandel thinks a second is necessary. He didn’t offer any further details, only saying the “rescue” plan would be rolled out over the next six months as part of a larger manufacturing plan. He has not offered a formal position on the original auto rescue, though it was opposed by other statewide Republicans like Gov. John Kasich. His campaign did not respond to a request for details on his rescue plan, or to clarify his position on the original auto rescue.

On Tuesday, Ohioans will vote on Issue 2, a referendum on Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s (R) anti-workers’ rights law Senate Bill 5 (SB5). The bill strips teachers, police, and firefighters of their rights to collective bargain for better wages and working conditions. The bill is deeply unpopular.

This, however, has not stopped right-wing groups from flushing the pro-SB5 campaign with money or conservatives from insisting that the law helps local governments by preventing layoffs.

But while most Republicans at least acknowledge that the law disadvantages public employees, one Republican thinks the opposite. This summer, Ohio Treasurer and U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel said he supported Senate Bill 5 because the law, in his mind, actually “respect[s] police, and firefighters, and teachers” by giving “fiscal conservatives” the tools to ignore collective bargaining rights, which somehow “insur[es]that there is a state and there are local governments” down the road:

MANDEL: Well I’ve been supportive of Senate Bill 5…In my mind, it’s not about going after police, and firefighters and teachers. It’s about respecting police, and firefighters, and teachers and insuring that there is a state and there are local governments long into the future so that we have communities here in the state. The current level of spending in our state and our country? Simply unacceptable. And I think we need to put the tools in the tool belts of local government leaders and also people who are fiscal conservatives to bring this state into a sense of fiscal health. And that’s one of the reasons I’ve been supportive.

Watch it:

In what must come as a surprise to Mandel, Ohio’s teachers, police, firefighters, and even veterans feel slighted — not respected — by this bill. SB5 strips unions of the right to negotiate wages, eliminates pay increases, and completely bans the right to strike. As public officials and unions both note, teachers and safety forces have already made substantial sacrifices — including zero pay raises and paying more for health insurance — to accommodate the tough economy.

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