Governor Gary Locke’s Remarks
Moses Lake 7E7 Visit
December 19, 2003

Good morning. I am honored to be in Moses Lake.

I would like to say something that I will never tire of saying: we won. We are building the 7E7 in Washington!

And I am very proud of how successfully Moses Lake competed. You showed the rest of the country that this is an outstanding location for business. The 7E7 will be built in Everett, but Moses Lake is a national winner in this competition too. You served notice that the exceptional business assets here include available land, great workers, and a can-do attitude.

This has been a statewide effort. Our Action Washington team was unprecedented—and very successful. The Moses Lake community and its leaders were an integral part of our statewide team.

Thanks to the entire community of Moses Lake. Everyone here pitched in. Your tireless work, creativity and enthusiasm put this place on the map of global business to stay.

Winning this competition was an inspiring example of statewide, bipartisan teamwork. Together, we gave this our all. We persevered and persisted. We presented the most creative, compelling and economical proposal to Boeing. And we won! We won as a state—a state with two great proposed locations for this work.

We really wanted to land the 7E7. We value the good paying jobs with good benefits that the new program will bring.

But there was much more at stake than a few thousand 7E7 jobs, as important as those jobs are. The future of the aerospace industry in our state was at stake. If assembly of the 7E7 went elsewhere, other programs would likely follow. Tens of thousands of jobs would be lost. Our state’s economic future would have been significantly compromised.

Not on our watch.

We’ve worked hard to make our state more business friendly over the past few years. And we pulled out all the stops to submit a highly competitive proposal to build the Dreamliner here.

We competed globally, and we won. This serves notice to companies all over the world that Washington is definitely open for business. Open for business in a way we’ve never been before. And clearly, Moses Lake will continue to be an important region for our state’s future economic development. People, land, facilities, and especially education and local leadership.

And now I’d like to introduce our director of the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, Martha Choe…

[Martha speaks]

[Governor returns to lectern]

Thanks Martha. And now please welcome the mayor of Moses Lake, Lee Blackwell . . .

[Blackwell Speaks]

[Governor returns to lectern]

Thank you, Mayor Blackwell. Next is Terry Brewer, the Executive Director of Grant County Economic Development Council. . .

[Brewer speaks]

[Governor returns to lectern]

Thank you Mr. Brewer. Now I’d like to introduce David Senne, Executive Director of the Port of Moses Lake…

[Senne speaks]

[Governor returns to lectern]

Thank you Mr. Senne. And now here’s Larry Peterson, Port Commissioner . . .

[Peterson speaks]

[Governor returns to lectern]

Thank you Commissioner Peterson. Next up is County Commissioner Deborah Moore….

[Moore speaks]

[Governor returns to lectern]

Thank you Commissioner Moore. Next let’s hear from Bill Bonaudi of Big Bend Community College…

[Bonaudi speaks]

[Governor returns to lectern]

Thank you, Mr. Bonaudi.

Again, I want to thank all of you here in Moses Lake. On behalf of the people of Washington, I have two words of advice for this vibrant community of incredible potential: Be proud.

Be proud—because we sure are.

Thank you.