Release: Culver’s Agenda Discourages Job Creation
Posted by iowabrigade on May 6, 2009
Iowa Loses Wind-Energy Jobs to Kansas:
RPI Chairman Strawn Says Culver Agenda Drives Jobs out of Iowa
Des Moines—“It is sadly ironic that while Governor Culver attends the American Wind Energy Association meetings in Chicago, a major manufacturer of wind energy jobs turns its back on creating jobs in Iowa in favor of locating a new production facility in Kansas. The failure of Iowa, a leading producer of wind energy, to land these jobs is evidence that Governor Culver’s misguided labor and tax agenda are warning employers to locate their facilities and jobs elsewhere,” Matt Strawn, Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, said today.
Strawn continued, “The decision by Siemens Energy to locate a new production facility and its 400 employees in Kansas, rather than in the Sioux City area, is a serious blow to our economic development efforts and a heartbreaking loss for the thousands of unemployed Iowans desperately seeking new jobs.
“In locating the jobs to Kansas you cannot assume the decision was made for reasons of weather, education, quality of life, or the availability of skilled workers. Iowa has all those bases covered. No, what impedes our economic growth efforts are a Governor and a Democratic-controlled Legislature that spent the last four months passing record high budgets and $1.7 billion in borrowing schemes, rather than addressing the core competitive challenges that make it difficult for Iowa to attract jobs.
“To add insult to injury, while Siemens Energy was in decision-making mode, they and all the rest of the business world witnessed our Governor and our Democrat legislative majorities embark on a concerted effort to raise income taxes and adopt big-labor’s job-killing agenda. Even though Republicans stopped those efforts cold, the damage to our reputation cannot be undone and we can expect similar lost opportunities until Republicans reclaim the Governor’s mansion and majorities in the Iowa House and Senate,” Strawn concluded.
Link to story announcing the Siemens’ decision to locate to Kansas.
