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Local General Motors Corp. leaders outlined Friday the results of a meeting this week to elicit support from Gov. Bob Taft for their Ohio operations.

The meeting was held Thursday in Columbus and was the second of 13 meetings with governors across the United States.

Pamela Mader, plant manager at the Moraine Assembly plant and Gary Cowger, president of GM North America, talked with Taft about currency manipulation, health-care costs and litigation reform.

The meetings with governors dovetail with the launch of a new advertising campaign in each of those states highlighting GM's impact on the state economy.

The Moraine assembly plant is one of 10 GM facilities in Ohio. The Moraine plant's 3,821 hourly employees and 325 salaried employees are part of 19,700 employees in Ohio.

Mader called the meeting with Taft "absolutely excellent," and said the governor reaffirmed his position as an advocate for American manufacturing.

"We walked away knowing he would be a voice for us," she said.

Mader and Cowger urged Taft to support policies that would curtail what they believe is currency manipulation of the yen by Japanese government.

Mader said GM believes the yen should strengthen against the dollar as much as the euro has since 2000, or around 15 percent more than it has already, which would bring the exchange rate to around 90 yen per dollar.

In addition, they talked with Taft about the cost of health care and its impact on competition, Mader said. Last year, GM paid $5 million for about 1.1 million employees, retirees and dependents.

The company spends more than $1,500 per vehicle in health-care costs, a $1,000 disadvantage to foreign competition, Mader said.

"That is the most difficult policy change we need to drive," Mader said of health-care costs.