News Releases
Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 21, 2001
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136

Gov. Locke's statement on positive business climate in Washington state

"This is no time to inject partisan fantasy into a business decision. To say that the business climate in the state of Washington is the cause of The Boeing Company's corporate headquarters move is nonsense. In fact, Boeing has made it clear how important its commercial operations are in this state and that it has no plans to move them. Let's keep in mind that Boeing supports nearly 80,000 family wage jobs in research, development and manufacturing. They do it so successfully in part because of the accommodating business climate.

"During the past four years I have strongly supported and signed legislation that provided businesses in Washington state with nearly a billion dollars in tax cuts. My administration has reduced unemployment insurance taxes that will have saved businesses $356 million by June of this year. In addition to that, we played a key role in helping Boeing sign a jetliner order with China that was worth $3 billion in business for The Boeing Co."

"People that live and do business in this state do so because they know that companies like Microsoft, Costco, Starbucks and Weyerhaeuser continue to find a healthy business environment where they can prosper and grow. This is a time to pull together, not a time to divide the people of this state with misinformation and inflammatory statements."

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