Posted on 10/10/2004 7:36:38 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting a taste of his own marketing.
Two months ago the celebrity governor plastered his grinning face on billboards from Phoenix to Boston, hoping to entice employers to relocate to the West Coast with the slogan, "Arnold says, California wants your business (Actually he says 'Kah-li-fornia.')"
Now the competition is getting up close and personal.
Two of the targets of Schwarzenegger's sales pitch, Massachusetts and Nevada, are retaliating with rival advertisements in California cities, angling for jobs with the promise of lower taxes and a brighter future.
They're also taking friendly shots at Schwarzenegger.
Nevada kicks off an ad campaign this week that asks California companies "Will your business be terminated?" - a less-than-subtle dig at Schwarzenegger's Hollywood past.
Massachusetts billboards that went up last week in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego feature Gov. Mitt Romney, who mimics the crossed-arms pose stuck by Schwarzenegger in his ads. The catch line: "Smaller muscles but lower taxes! Massachusetts means business."
Romney decided to answer Schwarzenegger's challenge when he came face-to-face with one of his billboards at Boston's Logan Airport.
"We decided to fight fire with fire," said Shawn Feddeman, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts governor. "We have a lower income tax, a lower sales tax."
Nevada officials plan to unveil a huge building sign in downtown Los Angeles this week, followed by similar outdoor ads in Sacramento and San Francisco.
"It's the give and take of (Schwarzenegger) coming over to Nevada," said Chuck Alvey, president of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada.
Schwarzenegger riled up his economic adversaries in August when he headed to Nevada to announce a national campaign to attract jobs to his state. The campaign began with billboards in 10 cities, and he even drove a moving van down the Las Vegas Strip, offering to transport companies to California.
For California, there is far more involved than one-liners. The state has seen an exodus of jobs in recent years as companies headed elsewhere for cheaper energy, lower taxes and more affordable living for workers.
Nevada alone claims to have grabbed more than 30 companies from the state in the year ending in June.
Schwarzenegger has attempted to use his popularity - and his veto pen - to remake the state's image as business-friendly. He recently rejected a series of bills from the Legislature that he said would hurt businesses, including boosting the minimum wage.
Nevada officials say they hear almost daily from California companies looking to move out.
"California ... is almost hostile to business and we don't see a lot changing," said A. Somer Hollingsworth, president of the Nevada Development Authority, which will spend $650,000 in its latest marketing campaign to snatch companies from California.
Schwarzenegger, his aides say, will fight for every job. He is scheduled to travel to Japan in November to promote state products and look for investment.
"For too long, California made itself an easy mark," said Schwarzenegger spokesman Vince Sollitto. The governor will "let the rest of the country - and the world - know that California wants your business."
Until CA tackles the BIG issues; crime, taxation, energy, cost of living, illegal immigrants, etc. it will continue to lose out to more business and family-friendly states.
I've been offered several jobs in CA - my answer each and every time: NO way in hell.
As a Californian, I find this interesting BUT...what is Arnie offering these companies??? He really cannot afford, at least not yet, to reduce taxation until the liberal-created $30 Billion debt is whacked back....
An answer to that question would be very enlightening...
Prop 72 is a jobs killer. CA will go the way of EU..low growth, high unemployment based on taxes and welfare state and gov't unions
"All your casinos are belong to Arnie"...
It's a truely sad state of affairs indeed when Taxachussetts can claim to be a capitalist utopia compared to another state.
"He really cannot afford, at least not yet, to reduce tax-
ation until the liberal-created $30 Billion debt is whacked
back...."
Yes, but on the other hand, how can he attract business
without a carrot or two? Seems to me that not only does
he need to stop the bleeding but he also needs to secure
some business tax and regulation concessions from the leg-
islature in order to turn the tide. Companies won't enjoy
being over taxed and regulated by a state led by an action
hero any more than one led by the Dufuscrat that ran busi-
ness off in the first place.
Reduce taxes and regulations, then go out and recruit the
business. With companies returning and new ones coming the
tax base will be expanded. It's the Reagan way. Of course,
since the Demwit legislature won't go along with such an
approach we're left with our action hero having to resort
plastering his likeness on billboards around the country.
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