Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co. in Bedford Hts. fired up about Obama visit

John Funk
Plain Dealer Reporter

Bedford Heights -- Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co. makes bolts for the energy industry. And jobs. Today, its 65 workers will help President-elect Barack Obama make a bit of history.
Obama will visit the company before beginning a journey to Washington, D.C., for his inauguration. The president-elect is expected to talk more specifically about his Recovery and Reinvestment Plan

The Obama administration wants to help U.S. industry create 3 million to 4 million jobs, many of them tied directly to the nation's new emphasis on renewable energy such as wind turbines and solar panels. Cardinal is already a success story in those areas. The company makes high-strength bolts for products such as wind turbines and oil drilling platforms.

Gov. Ted Strickland introduced its president, John Grabner, and Cardinal as an example of green jobs to an audience of more than 800 last month at a meeting of the American Wind Energy Association held in Cleveland. The governor plans to attend today's event.
Since Cardinal's foray into the wind business two years ago, it has added 15 jobs, not counting the two people hired this week, Grabner said Thursday at the plant, as a swirl of workers tried to prepare for Obama's visit.

The mood at the small company ran from tense to excited to jubilation. Phones rang constantly. Staffers ran in and out of Grabner's chilly office worrying about Secret Service agents and whether press kits for more than 100 reporters would arrive in time.
Out back, a worker with a floor scrubber the size of a Zamboni scrubbed the oily plant floor. Workers were setting up displays of Cardinal's products - custom-made bolts of any length not only for oil rigs and wind towers but also for bridges, heavy equipment and industrial machines. All of it from the best U.S.-made steel.

Some workers were still turning out bolts that had to be shipped Thursday. And Brandon "Smokey" Delafosse, a 14-year veteran who supervises forge production of the bolts, worried about his role today introducing Obama.
"I am thoroughly excited," he said. "If you had asked me earlier, I would not have been able to respond."

Asked what he might say personally to Obama if given the chance, Delafosse, an African-American, said, "I am proud of him, and it is an honor to be able to introduce him to millions of people in the world."