Print  email 

tool name

close

tool goes here

Gregoire: State business climate plenty good enough to lure Boeing

• Published September 28, 2009

• Comments (0)

Gov. Chris Gregoire and state officials are making the case that Washington is the best place for Boeing Commercial Airplanes to put in a second production line for the 787 Dreamliner jet, if such a line is built.

And that's without any changes in law, tax rates or other state practices, according to this new report produced by a team of state government officials working for the Democratic governor.

Maybe I'm wrong but it sounds like a take-it-or-leave-it gambit.

Bill McSherry, a special adviser to the governor, led the team that included new Commerce Department director Rogers Weed, according to Glenn Kuper, spokesman for Gregoire.

Business groups have been slamming Washington's business climate and warning Boeing might locate its second Dreamliner line in another state. But the report makes its case solely based on what is on the ground now — including Washington's top tier status as a place to do business. It cites Forbes magazine ranking the business climate No. 2 in the country, ahead of competitor states like South Carolina and California, and it mentions the skilled labor force, tax system, and a slew of other ratings.

As Gregoire writes in the forward:

Republicans don't appear to be buying the Gregoire line. U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn, expressed disappointment no new financial incentives would be offered in addition to the $3 billion tax break that state lawmakers approved for aerospace firms in 2003.