While the Evergreen Freedom Foundation continues to spar with Washington state officials over what details of the state’s 7E7 contract with the Boeing Co. we’re entitled to see, specifics are starting to emerge about what other states were willing to do get the Dreamliner.
North Carolina offered Boeing its richest incentive package ever to get the company to look at Global TransPark. That underused, state-developed airport industrial park near the city of Kinston was believed to be the most serious competitor to Everett in the final days of the 7E7 site selection process.
According to newspaper reports on Tuesday, North Carolina offered a $534.1 million incentive package to Boeing. Documents related to that state’s bid were made public Monday.
Over 20 years, the North Carolina package would have included:
North Carolina also thought creatively. It was prepared to build a new high school with an aerospace curriculum, The Charlotte Observer reported, and spend a million dollars on an employee day care center.
Like Washington, North Carolina promised to expedite all the necessary building and environmental permits.
And it really pushed its place as the birthplace of aviation.
The Kinston Free Press noted that Gov. Mike Easley put a Wright Brothers centennial logo on most of the state’s proposals. The Observer said Easley, during one call with Boeing, read aloud passages from a history of the Wright Brothers’ historic first flight.
The North Carolina officials shed some light on the recruitment process.
Boeing executives visited the site as many as six times, and human resources workers came to investigate where employees could shop.
"Boeing would never tell you you were out, but if you kept hearing from them, you were in," Dan Gerlach, a senior policy advisor to the governor, told The Observer.
The state submitted it’s "best and final" offer on Nov. 14, but staffers continued to work on the plan nights and weekends until the Dec. 12 meeting in Chicago where Boeing’s board decided to go ahead with plans to build the new jet in Everett.
The call came to Gov. Easley about 10 minutes before Boeing announced the news to a couple thousand cheering employees in Seattle.
Things weren’t nearly so down-to-the-wire in Gulfport, Miss., another site Boeing looked at.
Earlier this month, The Sun-Herald newspaper in Biloxi detailed how Mississippi put together an under-the-radar bid for the Dreamliner factory, with Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and other top officials holding secret meetings with Boeing representatives and taking them by helicopter to look at the site.
"Mississippi had several things going for it," the newspaper said. "The state’s cost of doing business was low … and Hancock County, with its warm climate and proximity to beaches and nearby New Orleans, earned high marks for its quality of life."
But at the same time, "the airport had its share of weaknesses," the paper said. "The runway was about 2,500 feet too short … A major highway interchange would need to be constructed. And the site’s water and sewer lines would need a complete overhaul."
Mississippi got invited to make its pitch to Boeing’s site consultants.
"The heat in the room was stifling, and so was the pressure," the paper recounted. "Three hours later, they emerged from the room, relieved and confident they had nailed their presentation."
But before long, Boeing stopped returning the Mississippi calls.
"That’s when you know they’re probably talking to somebody but it’s just not you," said Buzz Canup, a consultant for the state.
Meanwhile, in Olympia, the conservative Evergreen Freedom Foundation said it had received 250 pages of documents related to the state’s 7E7 contract after suing Gov. Gary Locke and the state’s Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development.
The documents suggest that Washington’s biggest incentive was the 40 percent cut in the business and occupation tax on aerospace manufacturing, which is expected to save Boeing and its suppliers $908 million over 20 years.
Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.
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