As senator, Clinton’s effort on jobs fell flat in New York
In her presidential bid, Hillary Clinton has made job creation a centerpiece of her platform, casting herself as a pragmatist who would inspire “the biggest investment in new, good-paying jobs since World War II.”
Her argument that she would put more Americans to work has focused on her time in the Senate, when she took on the mission of creating jobs in chronically depressed upstate New York. As her husband, former president Bill Clinton, put it recently, she became the region’s “de facto economic development officer.”
But nearly eight years after Clinton’s Senate exit, there is little evidence that her economic development programs had a substantial impact on upstate employment. Despite Clinton’s efforts, upstate job growth stagnated during her tenure, with manufacturing jobs plunging nearly 25 percent, according to jobs data.
Unrealistic goals?
The former first lady was unable to pass the bigticket legislation she introduced to benefit the upstate economy. She turned to smaller-scale projects, but some of those fell flat after initial glowing headlines, a Washington Post review shows. Many promised jobs never materialized and others migrated to other states as she turned to her first presidential run, said former officials who worked with her in New York.
Clinton’s self-styled role as economic promoter also showcases an operating style that has come to define the political and money-making machine known to some critics of the former first couple as Clinton Inc. Some of her pet economic projects involved loyal campaign contributors, who also supported the Clinton Foundation, the Post review shows.
Clinton’s Senate record — rarely examined in detail this campaign cycle — offers a template for her approach to jobs creation. Her campaign has crafted a detailed jobs plan and cited her upstate New York work as a blueprint for a Clinton presidency.
Republican opponent Donald Trump claims he’s created “thousands and thousands of jobs” as an international developer and knows better how to stimulate the economy. Most of the jobs Trump created were construction and management jobs for projects early in his career, when he was building heavily in New York City and other locations.
Clinton’s pledge to help upstate New York amid an early 2000s recession was risky, experts say. “To her credit, she really did focus on economic development upstate as a focus and as a purpose,” said David Shaffer, former president of the Albany-based Public Policy Institute, which compiles New York jobs data.
But Shaffer and other experts faulted Clinton for setting an unrealistic goal by promising to create 200,000 new jobs in a region struggling to retain existing positions. “As soon as I heard that, I thought, ‘OK, some D.C. consultant sat around with focus groups to figure out what would sound good.’ You wouldn’t make a promise like that if you had seriously looked into it,” Shaffer said.
Clinton also has touted success with cosmetic projects that created few jobs, the Post found. Nicholas Langworthy, the Republican Party chairman in Erie County, N.Y., said he’s taken aback by Clinton’s repeated references to what he described as “small bore” efforts, such as securing federal money for a Buffalo project called Artspace that created residential living space for artists. Clinton cites Artspace in her list of Senate accomplishments.
“To have someone running for president of the United States bragging about an Artspace apartment building in Buffalo is laughable,” Langworthy said. “That’s a project a city council member or a small-city mayor would champion, not a U.S. senator.”
‘Stiff headwinds’
Kris Balderston, a longtime senior Clinton aide now at Fleishman Hillard, a Washington, D.C., communications firm, said the Buffalo project was a “symbol that she was going to be helping everybody no matter how big or small.”
Clinton’s backers say the unfulfilled jobs promise pales in comparison to her work on the Sept. 11, 2001 recovery and protecting New York military installations. All told, Clinton aides have said, she helped to secure more than $1 billion in federal assistance for New York, not including $20 million in post-Sept. 11 funds.
Campaign spokesman Glen Caplin said Clinton “worked hard” to create jobs. “Facing the stiff headwinds of the (George W.) Bush economy, she never gave up and never stopped fighting for New York jobs,” he said.