Reader endorses McKenna for governor

In Grant County our unemployment rate, though improving slowly, still remains high at 8.3 percent. We need to elect Rob McKenna as governor because it is time for a new direction that will generate jobs for our communities and our state. If our economy is going to get back on track and provide meaningful employment opportunities, our state must be led by a governor who understands the needs of small business and the obstacles that burden those opportunities.

Small businesses create two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year. Today the 28 million small firms in the US employ half of the private sector workforce. Those small businesses are the cornerstone of our communities- when our small businesses flourish, our communities flourish.

Rob McKenna hosted 14 different small business roundtables earlier this year around Washington state, including one in Moses Lake when he also visited the Columbia Basin Herald. He listened to local employers and found out what they need from government. Rob heard clearly that they don't need more state agencies to successfully compete. But Rob did hear that they need tax and regulatory relief, a skilled workforce and an attitude in Olympia that understands the critical need for encouraging, not burdening, the small businesses that create so many of our jobs.

As a small business owner I am encouraged by Rob McKenna's vision for a "New Direction for Washington", which will generate jobs, reform education to provide a skilled workforce and foster a healthy business climate with fewer regulations and taxes. Let's put Washington on a "firm road to economic recovery" by electing Rob McKenna as Washington's next governor.

Jeff Foster

Moses Lake