THEY SAY
Excerpted from an article by Steven Mihailovich in the Aug. 6 Las Vegas Press:
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger launched a nationwide campaign last week designed to lure businesses to the Golden State by targeting eight initial cities outside of California including Las Vegas.
Cashing in on Schwarzenegger’s pop-icon status, the $600,000 advertising campaign pictures the California governor on a billboard with the tagline, “Arnold says: California wants your business (actually, he says Kah-li-fornia).”
While the spectacle had all the trappings of a Hollywood promotional tour with Schwarzenegger as its star, the selection of Las Vegas as the launching pad for the ad campaign made the governor appear more like a jealous ex-lover seeking the return of the businesses which have relocated to Nevada to escape California’s massive regulatory regime, high tax rates and astronomical costs of doing business.
Jerry Sandstrom, deputy director of the Nevada Commission on Economic Development, said the progress toward a business-friendly environment made under Schwarzenegger is solid, yet minor compared to the harsh cumulative effects of the past. For instance, he notes that California’s roughly 30% decrease in workers’ compensation costs is a small rollback of the 300% rise over the past few years.
“I’ve been in economic development for 30 years and we’ve been talking about the problems in California for the same time,” Sandstrom says.
The timing illustrates the difficulty of California’s predicament. The day before the launch of the ad campaign, construction materials manufacturer Quickflash Weatherproofing from Huntington Beach announced that it would be relocating to Las Vegas and the city of Henderson passed zoning changes to accommodate the relocation of intermodal distribution company Pacer Stacktrain’s corporate headquarters from the Oakland area, bringing 350 job with it.
In addition, three California companies had contacted the Nevada Development Authority to inquire about relocating to Nevada the same day Schwarzenegger launched the campaign.
