Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, said he is developing a plan to “rescue the auto industry.”

When asked about the $82 billion government bailout of General Motors and Chrysler in 2009, Mandel said in a Thursday call to The Vindicator, “Our economy has not yet been rescued. So many people are still out of work.”

GM earned its largest profit ever in 2011, two years after the bailout. GM, with a complex in Lordstown that builds the Chevrolet Cruze, made a $7.6 billion profit last year. It received $49.5 billion of the bailout money.

“I’m not saying the bailout didn’t work,” Mandel said.

But Mandel said he “respectfully disagreed” that it saved the American auto industry.

Justin Barasky, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Democrat incumbent who Mandel would face in the November general election if the latter wins Tuesday’s Republican primary, mocked the state treasurer’s comments.

“Mandel’s claim to be putting together a plan to rescue the industry is a laughably candid example of how completely clueless he is as to what’s going on with Ohio’s middle class and how he’ll say anything to get elected,” Barasky said.

Brown was a vocal proponent who voted for the auto bailout, which saved thousands of jobs in Ohio, Barasky said.