Kander to Texas governor: Grow your own businesses; don't steal our jobs

(From Secretary of State Jason Kander)

Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander today sent a letter to Texas Governor Rick Perry asking him to reconsider his plan to try and convince Missouri businesses to relocate to Texas.

"Simply poaching jobs from one state and bringing them to another doesn’t grow our nation’s economy, so I hope you reconsider your efforts and instead look at ways to cultivate new industries and companies in Texas, rather than just trying to steal other states’ successes," Kander wrote in his letter to Perry.

Press reports from earlier in the week indicated that Perry will come to Missouri next week with the intention of trying to lure Missouri-based companies to Texas. Perry has already begun a television advertising campaign with the same message in St. Louis, Columbia and Springfield.

Read Kander's full letter:

August 22, 2013

Governor Rick Perry
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428

Dear Governor Perry,

I read with dismay about your decision to visit Missouri and run television advertisements to try and steal jobs that our businesses have worked so hard to create over the years. I hope that you reconsider.

Instead of launching a wholesale public relations effort meant to depress Missouri's business climate in hopes of luring jobs to Texas, I suggest you spend your time asking Texas business owners if there’s anything you can do to help their companies move forward. If a company moves to Texas as a result of your sales pitch, there’s a good chance it will leave for a better deal in some other state in the future. But if a company starts in Texas, it’s more likely to stay there.

There are some great examples of that in Missouri. Consider Express Scripts, which was founded in Missouri in 1986. Not only have they thrived in the state in which they began, they’re still growing here. This summer, the company announced it is adding 1,500 jobs here by 2018. There’s also Monsanto, which started here in 1901and now has more than 21,000 employees worldwide. In April, the company announced it would add 675 jobs right here in Missouri. On the other side of the state we have Cerner, which was founded in Kansas City in 1979. Earlier this month, the company announced it would acquire 236 acres to build a campus big enough to expand by 12,000 new employees by 2020.

Those are just a few cases, but as you can see, there is a path to gain jobs by actually growing jobs. Simply poaching jobs from one state and bringing them to another doesn’t grow our nation’s economy, so I hope you reconsider your efforts and instead look at ways to cultivate new industries and companies in Texas, rather than just trying to steal other states’ successes.

But if you choose to come to Missouri next week anyway, there is a way you can make the trip worthwhile. I read in POLITICO that you are seeking $100 million in Medicaid funding for the disabled and elderly. Our state legislature in Missouri has refused to accept additional Medicaid funding from the federal government, so it would be great if you could explain to them why they should follow your lead on this issue.

Sincerely,

Jason Kander
Missouri Secretary of State