Dems in control when Boeing left

Being one of the “right of center” readers of the Herald I find it necessary to address the comments made by Ron Friesen in regards to Boeing, in his June 1 letter.

Mr. Friesen writes in his last paragraph: “The billions Boeing, and other corporations gets in tax incentives are directly connected to these funding problems, thanks to our state, mostly Republican legislators.” Boeing still has production operations in Washington, however as most are aware, Boeing’s corporate headquarters moved from Seattle to Chicago in 2001. The governor in control of the state of Washington at the time Boeing left was Gary Locke, a Democrat, our state Legislature was comprised of a divided government with Democratic control, which is the same as present since the elections of 2012. The last time Republicans had both houses of Legislature was 1998. The last time a Republican held the office of governor in Washington was way back in 1985 under the leadership of John Spellman. I don’t recall Boeing leaving in 1998 or 1985.

I find it interesting that a party who isn’t in the majority, who hasn’t had a governor in power since 1985 (John Spellman), a party who hasn’t had a slight majority in Legislature since 1998 can be held accountable for the lack of taxation from Boeing as Mr. Friesen states. A simple search verifies this to be truth, not an opinion. Rather than deflect blame onto a fabrication of reality, ownership might be in order.

Douglas Barrows

Granite Falls