Three Down, Six Lives To Go

 

Miracles do happen -- especially when a governor-cum-Presidential candidate is on your side. That's what workers at Morse Cutting Tool's New Bedford, Mass., plant discovered after James F. Lambert, who had tried to turn the drill company around, sought Chapter 11 protection for Morse in January (Insider, June). Two companies submitted buyout offers to the federal bankruptcy court in Boston, but only one promised to keep the plant alive -- saving 300 jobs. Enter Massachusetts governor and Democratic Presidential contender Michael S. Dukakis. The state, by offering to roll over a $1.5-million loan for plant-savior International Twist Drill Ltd., helped that company win court approval. Dukakis's policy probably won him plenty of votes in New Bedford, but fewer in St. Louis -- the home of losing suitor Harbour Group Ltd.