Gregoire offers plan to create 250,000 jobs
OLYMPIA – Christine Gregoire, Democratic front-runner for governor, has proposed a jobs program anchored by a $1 billion investment in biotechnology research and development.
Gregoire, the state’s three-term attorney general, said Tuesday her aim is to create 250,000 jobs over the next four years. The biotech plan would be financed by tobacco settlement dollars and the private sector, not higher taxes, she said.
Gov. Gary Locke, a Democrat leaving office in January after two terms, favors Gregoire as his successor. But Gregoire took a mild poke at Locke, without mentioning him by name, as she unveiled her 10-point jobs plan.
“Over the last three years, we’ve lost 100,000 private sector jobs,” she said in a statement released by her campaign. “Business starts are down and our unemployment rate is up. That’s why we need a change.”
The biotechnology proposal is similar to a Bio21 plan released earlier this year by business, labor and university leaders, and endorsed by the governor.
“I want to make Washington the nation’s leader in the life sciences,” Gregoire said. “We will start a Life Sciences Discovery Fund with the $500 million tobacco settlement bonus due our state.”
The state is in line for the extra money because Gregoire was a key architect of a multibillion-dollar settlement between the states and the tobacco industry.
Gregoire said the research and development can make the state a magnet for high-paying jobs. The fund will also include a tax incentive to benefit industries that use the state’s research facilities, she said.
Gregoire also proposed working aggressively with ports, schools, and local economic development councils to drum up more jobs. “When I’m governor, no one will outwork or out-hustle me when it comes to fighting for Washington jobs,” she said.
She also pledged to “stem the outsourcing of jobs overseas by using the state contracting process to reward companies who guarantee that work will remain here at home.”
Gregoire said she would work to improve government accountability, provide a “fair and predictable business tax system,” and invest in transportation and other infrastructure. She said she would establish a cabinet-level Jobs Council and chair it personally.
Tim Hatley, campaign director for Gregoire’s main Democratic rival, King County Executive Ron Sims, said the biotechnology effort is widely supported, including by Sims.
“The big difference, though, is that when it comes to addressing how to grow our economy, Sims has been very clear from the get-go that the foundation is education and our infrastructure. No other candidate is willing to talk about the need for new investment, new revenue.”