Forbes claims that Washington is among the best states for business. I take this study with as big a grain of salt (or sugar) as, say, the study touting Tom DeLay's home town of Sugar Land, TX as The #3 Best Place to Live in America.
But Mrs. Gregoire celebrates Washington's Forbes ranking, as if it sprang from her 30-month occupation of the Governor's Office, and issued self-congratulatory campaign press releases to her campaign e-mail list and, inappropriately, on the official state website.
Meanwhile, liberal journalists relentlessly attack a law-abiding private citizen, who is not a candidate for any office, for doing nothing more than engaging citizens in discussion of public policy.
(Fair-minded journalists might also question Gregoire's official use of the Forbes article, and her citation of the "Washington State Budget and Policy Center", a self-described "nonpartisan, nonprofit organization", staffed by Democrat campaign operatives)
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at July 12, 2007 04:12 PM | Email ThisEveryone else is out of luck.
Posted by: John Bailo on July 12, 2007 04:17 PMhttp://www.forbes.com/2007/07/10/washington-virginia-utah-biz-cz_kb_0711bizstates-table.html
Posted by: anonymous on July 12, 2007 04:18 PMYou can find it all over Seattle, and on pretty much any liberal blog. HA is a prime example.
I saw an example of liberal class and tolerance today when the Hydroplane Museum dared to test-run a couple of ancient raceboats on Lake Washington--having carefully gotten permission from various authorities. Up whips a Toyota sporting a "John Edwards '08" bumper sticker. A grim looking middle aged woman threw open the door and stomped up to the event organizers, briefcase in hand. I presume she was expressing her displeasure with the proceedings. I couldn't hear the discussion but she angrily returned to her car less than a minute later and sped off.
Sorry for the somewhat off-topic post, but it was pretty funny and an interesting little illustration of what Seattle once was, and what it has become.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on July 12, 2007 05:50 PMBut the real joke is that they scored WA highly on regulatory climate (it boggles the mind), and on outlook (apparently ignoring the facts that we keep increasing out budget to swallow up any surplus and that there's no way the current budget -- if it doesn't continue to increase, which it will -- is sustainable without cutting programs or raising taxes even more).
The problem here folks, is that the Dems have fused partisan politics and public policy making together for so long, they can no longer distinguish between the two.
But there's also been a lot of free cover extended to Gregoire and her attack dogs on this one. Postman basically exonerated her from any involvement when the story broke--and since then, he's given Rossi the jackboot almost daily.
Of course, in denying any involvement in coordinating the PDC complaint, Queen Christine spoke through her official GOVERNOR'S OFFICE mouthpiece, Lars Erickson.
The real question we should be asking though, is this, "What are Gregoire and the State Dems so afraid of?"
Posted by: Patrick on July 12, 2007 09:06 PMBtw, I have written to Mrs. Gregoire on her email form at the gov. website about this heinously high service B&O tax and wanted to know she planned to do to bring fairness to this situation. Twice i have written to her about it.
I have never received any response back on that issue. They KNOW it's grossly unfair but they continue to financially rape service businesses in this state anyway.
* You really think regulation is LIGHT in Washington? Really? Really really?
* How is Rossi guilty of fraud? There is, of course, not the slightest bit of actual evidence showing it, so I assume since you made that allegation you can back it up. Right?
And note that while I don't think Gregoire did anything wrong here, as I think most people would probably agree, she certainly is closer to the wrongdoing line than Rossi is (since he is not a candidate or public official), and that, obviously, is the main point Stefan is making. And it's really indisputable.
Posted by: pudge on July 12, 2007 11:01 PMWhat hyprocrisy.
All along, Stefan says Dems are bad for business.
Here, a right-wing publication dares to look at the facts and present them and show that under Democratic leadership (not only in the Guv's office but in both the house and the senate) the state business climate soars!
Does Stefan celebrate because all along he's wanted a better business climate and now it's shown to be so?
No, he doesn't.
One can reasonbly conclude that Stefan really doesn't care about businesses in Washington. He really cares about getting rebpulicans in office.
That, unfortunately, isn't the objective shared by most citizens. Most want a state with a good business climate, healthy citizens, great education and terrific values. If Stefan had really wanted these things, he'd be celebrating this report.
Posted by: Bill Anderson on July 13, 2007 04:54 AMIf the same Forbes ranking had come while a Republican Governor was in office, methinks Stefan would hardly be taking this study with a "big grain of salt."
Right, because having a Republican governor would magically change the fact that the legislature over-regulates our businesses. Pull the other one!
Here, a right-wing publication dares to look at the facts and present them and show that under Democratic leadership (not only in the Guv's office but in both the house and the senate) the state business climate soars!
Well no, it doesn't. What "facts" show that? They give rankings without showing where they got them, and the rankings for "regulatory environment" are clearly nonsensical. Forbes even ADMITTED in the text of the article that we have lots of regulation here! They only gave WA high marks in regulation because, they say, WA does a good job of hand-holding business through the many regulations, and Forbes thinks this is enough to actually mitigate all those regulations. This is an OPINION expressed by Forbes, not a FACT, and it is an opinion most actual businesspeople would disagree with.
That, unfortunately, isn't the objective shared by most citizens. Most want a state with a good business climate, healthy citizens, great education and terrific values. If Stefan had really wanted these things, he'd be celebrating this report.
Obviously, YOU did not READ the report, because you would then know that it actually said that WA is BELOW AVERAGE in the actual cost of business (33rd in business cost rank), and in citizen health and education (32nd in quality of life rank).
Oops!
Well, Pudge, you do two things here:
1) You are completely incorrect about me reading the report
2) You choose to focus on two statistics selectively and ignoring the rest from the same report and table (where Washington ranks 4, 5, 16 and 4).
Forbes, on the other hand, decides to have non-partisan processes (unlike yours which ignores the 4 great stats and only shows the 2 mediocre scores) that are complete and combine all the important factors.
And to the mistaken point about Forbes being libral...get real...look at the four state rated above washington and the two directly below (real liberal bastions, NOT): Virginia, Utah, North Carolina, Texas, Idaho and Washington.
Face it...Washington is good for business. The continued parade of right wing garbage of bad for business is laid to rest by a right wing publication....listing Washington 5th.
Posted by: Bill Anderson on July 13, 2007 11:01 AMAs to the rest ... I chose to focus on the two things that are clearly the most important things to most businesspeople: cost of doing business, and quality of life.
And I ignored nothing. So obviously you didn't read, or didn't understand, my post: you say I ignored the regulatory environment rank (which was a 5), when I explicitly addressed it. Indeed, I spent most of my post on it. How can you say I "ignored" it makes about as much sense as your claim that the report backs you up that this state has good health and education.
As to the others, I addressed them in other posts: I agreed that (for some sectors) we have a strong labor force (one of the 4s), and I denied the value of the other 4, because it is a projection, and it is based primarily on something we're ranked 16th in, and is something that in fact contributes to PROBLEMS: yes, we have good prospects for growth in jobs and income and so on, but because of our poor growth policies in this state, that's bound to cause serious problems in terms of housing and cost of living and so on, which aren't taken into account.
And I never said anything about Forbes being liberal; I don't know what you think you are talking about.
Finally, fine, you think WA is good for business: then why do you refuse, once again, to actually address the criticisms that have been laid out? I suggest it is because you are incapable of doing so.
Posted by: pudge on July 13, 2007 11:33 AMthe dirty little secret is that all the new business (most of which will fail) hide the exodus of the ESTABLISHED old business.
Like most of the failing policies of these morons, it's .... I wonder who the sucker is, Bill?
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on July 13, 2007 11:35 AMThe dirty little secret is that all the new business (most of which will fail) hides the exodus of the ESTABLISHED old business.
Like most of the failing policies of these morons, it's
a successful shell game.... I wonder who the sucker is, Bill?
Guess I can rest in peace now.
Posted by: Malcom Forbes on July 13, 2007 12:37 PMIf the Forbes article didn't do it, the following will surely seal the deal:
Posted by: John on July 13, 2007 01:37 PMLet me put it this way: If we can be listed this high with Gregoire and the Dems, imagine where we'd be if business-friendly Republicans had the reins of government!
Posted by: Greg on July 13, 2007 06:57 PM