GOP reps boo Boeing breaks
Friday, January 23, 2004 7:18 AM PST
By M. L. Madison
Printable version
E-mail this articleLocal Republican legislators on Thursday criticized Gov. Gary Locke for ignoring "mom-and-pop" businesses, while giving the lion's share of tax breaks to large corporations like Boeing Co.
Democrats defended the incentives the Legislature and Locke approved last year. Some of the new -- and costly -- details of the Boeing deal were made public in a report by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation earlier this week, drawing mixed responses from lawmakers.
Responding to the report from the Olympia-based conservative think tank, Rep. Tom Mielke, R-Battle Ground, said some of the deals Locke made to entice Boeing to build the new 7E7 jetliner in Washington "turned my stomach."
"I believe that tax exemptions are necessary sometimes to provide some jobs, but I think it should be done in a balanced way," he told The Daily News on Thursday, complaining that Locke "rolled over and gave everything to Boeing."
"The people who are always here to keep our state afloat, what about them?"
Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, said he also was concerned that "little has been done to help other businesses in this state."
"The Governor needs to do more to support the growth of small business, and encourage existing businesses to expand in and to Washington," he said. "Many businesses all over our state are struggling."
Both representatives said the Legislature needed to improve the state's business climate by reforming taxation, regulations and other factors.
State Sen. Mark Doumit, a Cathlamet Democrat who sits on the Ways and Means Committee, said the committee passed close to $200 million in tax incentives on Wednesday, addressing areas such as research and development, rural economic development and the biotech industry.
Doumit said he and other Senate Democrats met with Boeing President and CEO Alan Mulally on Wednesday. Mulally told legislators that if the tax breaks hadn't been granted, "it wouldn't have just decided whether Boeing sited the 7E7 here -- it would have been more like the beginning of the end of all Boeing jobs in the state," Doumit said.
"I think it was a successful move," he said, denouncing criticism of the tax breaks as "really offensive."
Rep. Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, said he didn't like "learning the kinds of details" featured in the Evergreen report in the newspaper.
"But the bill we passed did give the Governor the power to negotiate these things," he said. "What really matters is that we have the 7E7. This was a crisis for this state, and it was important that we keep aerospace manufacturing jobs here."
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