Jerry Brown dismisses Texas ads wooing California businesses
Outspoken California Gov. Jerry Brown has roundly dismissed radio ads by Texas Gov. Rick Perry that slam the Golden State’s business environment.
“It’s not a serious story, guys,” Brown told reporters at a Tuesday business event.
The radio spots voiced by Perry, who has tried before to woo California businesses to the Lone Star State, starts out with the Texas governor proclaiming that “building a business is tough, but I hear building a business in California is next to impossible.”
“I have a message for California businesses,” he continues. “Come check out Texas.”
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He goes on to tout the state’s “low taxes, sensible regulations and fair legal system” as “just the thing to get your business moving.”
Brown said he was thoroughly unimpressed.
“It’s a big nothing,” he said, adding that businesses were in fact flocking to California. “Yeah, they’re coming. Everybody’s coming.... Look, when you’ve got something good, people want to be here.”
Later, an official statement from Brown’s office of businesses and economic development pointed out the state’s history as a “leader in start-ups and the expansion of home-grown businesses.”
Many large corporations have expanded or opened new facilities in California this year including Amazon, Caterpillar and Samsung.
“Poaching doesn’t work,” the statement continued. “This is something so many governors have done before and with the same ineffective results.”
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