Thanks to Wendy Clements in San Bernardino for getting me this audio of Meg Whitman being interviewed by Lou Desmond, host of the Inland Empire News Hour on KTIE 590. The following is from Feb. 12th. At 7:08 into the audio, Desmond gets the candidate into a discussion about the importance of the Enterprise Zone.

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Transcript:

Lou Desmond: There’s another advantage which I think is very important in California. There’s a program called the California Enterprise Zone Program. And the Enterprise Zones, of which there are 40 plus around the State, are places where if you are a business and you are located in them, you get special tax advantages – hiring taxes, and in terms of taxes for creating manufacturing, for buying equipment. What do you think about that program, because the new Speaker has attacked that program repeatedly and says he wants it repealed?

Meg Whitman: Yeah. I don’t know, I haven’t actually seen the results of the California Enterprise Zone, but conceptually that makes sense to me. Right? If you are trying to have a redevelopment area – I think there is a California Enterprise Zone near Anaheim, California.

LD: Yes.

MW: So, you know, if there is an area or a part of a town that you are trying to revitalize – and gosh you go to some of these downtown areas like a Fresno or an Anaheim – you know we’ve got to do something there to attract businesses. So I’m actually in favor of that line of thinking. I haven’t done the analysis on California Enterprise Zones, however.

LD: Well, you know how analysis goes,

MW: Yeah. (laughs)

LD: you can make it come out any way you want. But here’s my invitation to you: I would love to have you come down to the San Bernardino Valley Enterprise Zone the next time you are in Southern California, and I want to introduce you to some of the businesses that are there, and they can tell you first hand how important the tax credits are that they get. Like Restaurant Depot that just opened a giant store in the Enterprise Zone in Colton. The whole reason they located there is because of the Enterprise Zone and the hiring tax credits that they get. It is one of the only economic programs that we have in the State of California that makes us competitive, and I wish you could learn more about it, have some of your staff contact me.

MW: Yeah, I’d like to take you up on that…