Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Camille Anderson responded to the ads by pointing to the state's entertainment and high-tech prowess. “There is no rival to California,” she shot back.
Talk about kicking a neighbor while he's down: Nevada is spending $250,000 for an ad campaign that compares California legislators to talking chimps and tells business owners they can “kiss their assets goodbye” if they stay put.It's the latest salvo in a generally friendly rivalry that's taken on a harder edge with both states among the recession's hardest-hit areas and desperately fighting to stay afloat — California recently had to issue more than $1 billion in IOUs to survive a prolonged budget crisis while trying to slash a $26.3 billion debt.
Nevada leaders paint their clever but biting campaign — aimed at California business owners considering a move — as simply a matter of helping the Silver State fight high unemployment and diversify an economy heavily dependent on struggling casinos and tourism. Nevada business advocates are pitting their state's low taxes against rising workers' compensation rates and fears of bankruptcy in California.
But there is clearly a certain amount of grim glee at getting under the skin of their Golden State counterparts. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said he can't wait for the new ads and a chance to needle California leaders about picking off companies and jobs.“It's going to drive them bonkers,” Goodman said. “We're going to crush them.”
He and others say they want to erect one billboard outside California's state Capitol building in Sacramento. (More...)
But will it shame California into becoming business friendly? I doubt it.
ReplyDeleteCalifornia is the prime example of a socialist state that has "run out of other people's money" to spend.
ReplyDeleteCosts are high to do business here (I live in CA) and they will only go up as the government resorts to taxation to balance the budget they created on the backs of the taxpayers.
When you implement liberal policies that suck the life blood out of your state, you suffer the consequences. I think the ad campaign is a clever one.
ReplyDeleteCalifornia government! Same??
ReplyDeleteC'mon resident, if they had any shame, they wouldn't even show up to collect their checks.
LL, I praise Nevada for the move. Without competition, nothing will ever happen.
ReplyDeleteChic, California could end up being the Cheap Labor and Welfare State.
ReplyDeleteCheap labor except for public employee unions.
Nothing wrong with a little healthy competition. Ooops. But that would be a free-market philosophy.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little back in the '70s, (the last time we had an R governor) in Oregon, the sign on I-5 coming from Cal said "Welcome to Oregon. Please enjoy your visit"
ReplyDeleteEmphasis present in the original sign.
How times have changed!
If they had any shame they'd move to a different state.
ReplyDeleteI pass that sign every time I go to Reno. I'm only 20 miles from the border, and I've been very tempted to move to the other side. Over the years, quite a few Truckee businesses have gone that way.
ReplyDeleteCalifornia is done. It is about time too.
ReplyDeleteOpie,
ReplyDeleteYou're thinking about California 1962.
Inno, the CA governmental philosophy now is to shit in our their nest until we can no longer function, and then they move to some other state in disgust.
ReplyDeleteWoody, you can rent a little place near Boomtown and live at the buffets.
ReplyDeleteAdmiral, They've already stuck the fork in.
ReplyDelete