Texas & California Governor Engage In War Of Words Over Businesses
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – A fight is brewing between Texas and California – and their governors are in the middle of it.
Texas Governor Rick Perry's voice is featured in a series of radio ads aimed at luring California businesses to the Lone Star State. It part of a campaign called "Texas Wide Open For Business." The ads began airing in the major California cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego this week.
"Building a business is tough. Building a business in California is next to impossible," Perry tells radio listeners.
It's the same pitch John Crawford of Downtown Dallas Incorporated has made for the past two years. His office has been targeting businesses in California, New York, and Illinois. Selling the ideas of no personal or corporate state income tax and moderate property taxes.
"You can get anywhere in North America in four hours from here," he says. "The quality of life, the labor costs, the availability of labor."
Two years ago, Accentcare moved to North Dallas for many of those same reasons.
Irving has also had its share of relocations. Mayor Beth Van Duyne says fewer regulations play an important role.
"You can add so many different layers of bureaucracy that it makes it painful for a company to do business in your state. Texas recognizes that you have to lift that pain."
The Irving Chamber of Commerce says Consolidated Electrical Distributors moved its operation from Los Angeles, along with 100-125 jobs, in 2010.
But California's governor is hitting back, making his own statements on Sacramento radio.
"They're coming to California because this is where it is," said Governor Jerry Brown. "They're not going to Lubbock or whatever those places are that make up that state."
He's calling the $26,000 spent on this advertising campaign "a big nothing" in a market like California.
He also claims that Texans come to visit his state and never return.
"Who'd want to spend their summers in 110 degree heat, inside some kind of a fossil fueled air conditioner? Not a smart way to go!" said Brown.
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