Governor Gregoire Addresses the Sunset Club Dinner

April 7, 2008

*As Written*


Good Evening, and thank you Pat (retired Judge Aitken) for the introduction.

Thank you for inviting me. This is such a beautiful old club -- steeped with so much Seattle history, and I�m honored to be here.

I especially want to acknowledge and thank Jill Ruckelshaus for the invitation. I know she wanted to be here but our schedules didn�t line up and she has another engagement.

Jill is an inspiration to me -- all the work she has done for decades now in so many endeavors -- from gender equity and civil rights as a whole to quality education.

And of course her husband, Bill, is heading up a huge new challenge as Chairman of our Puget Sound Partnership, whose goal is no less than to restore the entire sound to what it was � fishable, diggable, and swimmable for our children and grandchildren.

As I�m sure you can gather, protecting Washington�s environment is just one of my challenges as Governor.

But let me digress for a minute in the privacy of the Sunset Club to tell you about a major challenge I�ve been tackling for the past many months. The state budget?

Yes -- but that�s not the one I�m referring to.

No -- the other really, really tough project I�m talking about is my daughter, Courtney�s, wedding.

Mike and I are, of course, thrilled to be getting a son-in-law in the family. Scott is a wonderful man, and Mike is especially pleased to have a guy in a family that has been all female but for him.

Scott�s parents are coming to the wedding, for course, and we�re really thrilled to welcome them into our family too.

But as so many other parents have already discovered, it�s amazing how complicated it is to put on a wedding in these modern times!

And it�s amazing that there is absolutely nothing too small to consult and obsess over. And believe me, there is no shortage of experts out there to help you -- and of course, bill you too.

A wedding also raises issues about relationships with friends and family that a veteran therapist could spend years untangling, or a master politician could devote her career to.

How do we politely invite that couple but not their children -- or their sister we barely know?

If we invite that person, then don�t we have to invite that other person too? After all, both were once important to us.

Meanwhile, there is pressure at the other end, and not only space considerations at the Mansion.

I�m worried that Mike is starting to see each potential guest as a cost unit.

I�ve found myself looking back with a whole new eye on an experience I had with Courtney a few years ago in Morocco.

We met a Moroccan gentleman at a marketplace who had a different approach to marriage.

Anyhow, I�m kidding here a little bit. The wedding is in August, and I�m thrilled Courtney is getting married. Can grandkids be far behind?

After more than three years as governor, I could talk about many things tonight:

I could talk about our substantial investments to create a world-class, seamless, learner-focused education system from pre-school through college to make sure our sons, daughters and our grandchildren have the knowledge and skills to thrive in our global economy.

Or about our fiscal discipline that has left us the envy of other states with a savings account of $850 million going into the next budget year, and a recent award from the Pew Research Center that finds us tied among three states as the best managed state in the country.

Or about what we�re doing to make health care more affordable, and to make sure every low-income child in Washington has health insurance by 2010.

Or about what we�re doing to confront Climate Change and start moving our state into an economy where we create green-collar jobs and reduce carbon emissions.

Or how we�re moving forward with a transportation system that works �including a new 520 Bridge and progress on the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Or about how Washington is becoming a center for Global Health research and delivery � through the Gates Foundation and our own state Life Sciences Discovery Fund � to name just two � and through our research hospitals and universities in Seattle and Pullman.

But maybe we can get to those things when we open it up for some conversation.

What I�d really like to share -- actually brag about a little � is how well Washington is doing compared to the rest of the country right now.

First, you may have heard that some in my political party are less than enthusiastic about free trade policies.

Well, let me be very clear right now that I differ on that score.

We in Washington are doing relatively well today -- even as many other states are truly hurting -- because we not only accept that we are in a global economy � we embrace it and make it work for us.

I had the opportunity a month ago to listen to a presentation by a writer for the respected Economist Magazine about the condition of our nation�s economy compared to the economy of Washington State.

She said what we already know. Washington�s economy is far more resilient, and a big reason is Washington has an unusually diversified economy �

...From Walla Walla wines to semi-conductor manufacturing in Vancouver�

�From solar energy component manufacturing in Moses Lake to the nation�s largest biodiesel refinery in Hoquiam.

The Economist also noted that along with our diversity, we are something else -- a huge export engine � which is our bread and butter.

I see this reality just as sure as I�ve flown on Boeing planes to far-off lands�

�Checked e-mail via Microsoft Outlook�

�And stopped for coffee at a Starbucks on the way to a supermarket to put on an apron and hand out Washington cherries or French fries in Mexico and Korea.

You in this room understand it too.

You understand that our bread and butter are found in international trade.

PACCAR sure understands it. This venerable Washington company sells trucks all over the globe.

Their international markets have exploded over the past five or 10 years � with 60 to 65 percent of sales now coming from overseas in 100 countries.

And, I might add, PACCAR senior vice president Ken Gangl (GANG-ULL) says there is value to being based in Washington where there are partnerships with other innovative companies, a knowledgeable workforce, and strategic outlets available no where else in the world.

Our dependence on trade is the reason I have led five trade missions to 10 different countries since I took office three years ago. And that�s not counting my annual trips to Canada.

Trade trips sound like fun � some would call them junkets. But just between us, they are hard work unless you like jet lag.

But they are worth it, and Don Brunell, head of the Association of Washington Business, says we can�t do enough trade missions.

That�s because they pay off.

And in big ways and small.

When I went to Mexico last summer, I helped launch Aeromexico service between Seattle and Mexico City.

In flying on Aeromexico (aboard a Boeing aircraft, I might add), I noticed that there was no Washington wine aboard.

I talked to the right people, and the latest word is that Aeromexico and Chateau Ste. Michelle are working on a way to offer Washington wine on this flight.
That was a small success.

A bigger one came after I and leaders of Pearson Packaging of Spokane met with Grupo Modelo, which makes great Mexican beer including Corona.

Pearson landed itself $2 million in equipment sales to Grupo, and told us later that what made the difference was having the Governor of Washington at the table.

Those are just one small and one large success stories in the past few years.

We all have them, and they�re the reason our exports are booming.

Led by aerospace industry sales, our exports rose to a record of nearly $67 billion last year, up 38 percent from the previous year. In fact, our exports have increased by 100 percent since 2004.

Believe me, our exports doubled not just because of aerospace � strong as that is.

Across the board, exports are up. Our growers, who like everybody else are reaping the rewards of a weak dollar, are also enjoying the benefit of worldwide demand for its products.

Asia remains our best customer, accounting for 50 percent of total Washington exports. China is our number one export market for the second consecutive year, followed by Japan, Canada, India and the Republic of Korea.

The truth is, international trade is helping insulate our economy from the current national economic slowdown.

We have a business plan � which is still fairly uncommon among the states. We call it The Next Washington, and it is represents a global strategy with roots in the Global Competitiveness Council that I created.

Let me offer just one result of that strategy. If you�re going to do business abroad, you need to be able to get there easily.

That�s why we have worked to help establish new direct flights to five foreign capitals in the past few years � Beijing, Paris, Frankfort, Mexico City and London.

I think it�s time to stop and take questions. But I want you to know, I�ll keep working hard to keep our state at the top of our global economy � across the aisle, across the state, and across the oceans.

Now, let�s let our hair down and talk.