Litebox Nightmare

Star editorial cartoonist Gary Varvel depicts what he calls the "Litebox Baggage" in today's newspaper, while an editorial describes last week's announcement by Gov. Mitch Daniels and Mayor Greg Ballard of a West Hollywood's plans to build a factory in Indianapolis that will create more than 1,000 jobs as a potential "nightmare." Here's some of what the editorial has to say:

Judging by the flock of red flags that have unfurled since last week's grand announcement, the governor and mayor may have been more valuable to Yanagihara than he will be to the Hoosier workforce . . .

The problem here is that respected leaders have attached their names to a highly questionable venture, encouraging confidence -- on the part of voters and potential investors -- that may well prove to be misspent.

Litebox would join a long line of state-backed jobs bonanzas that have failed to deliver. The burden should be on Yanagihara to show it's different this time. The mayor and governor should have held their applause until he did so. Now, the mayor should ask the same restraint from his audience. A city can't be run on dreams, and neither should an election.

As skepticism over the Litebox announcement grows, it looks like a high-vaulted economic development project for a company that produces electric batteries is turning sour. Enerdel has lost its Nasdaq listing due to it stock price trading too low. The U.S. Department of Energy put $118 million in the company, while the state offered the company more than $21 million in tax credits and job training for 1,400 new jobs in Indiana.