United States: Delegation dissappointed, will still fight for tanker contract.

Byline: kusumv03

An "extremely disappointed" Rep. Rick Larsen -- whose district includes the Snohomish County Boeing plant -- said he doesn't think the state could have done anything to prevent the aerospace giant from moving its second 787 line to South Carolina.

"There weren't large enough tax breaks to keep Boeing from moving to South Carolina," said Larsen, an attorney whose district office is in Everett. "It kind of becomes clear now that there was a desire to move there for quite some time."

Rep. Jay Inslee, a Democrat whose district is also home to many Boeing workers, said he "point blank" asked a "high-level official" with the company last week whether there were any tax breaks or changes in worker's compensation benefits that would convince Boeing to build the line here.

"The answer was no," Inslee said. Inslee said it was clear Boeing was focused primarily on its contract with the Machinists union here, and the lack of a union contract in South Carolina. "My perception was they didn't have a labor relationship they were satisfied with," Inslee said. "And that was just the reality."

There were no silver linings for the Puget Sound region in Boeing's decision, but Inslee offered a sliver of hope. In the near term, Inslee said Boeing plans to open a "surge line" at its Paine Field plant to create additional capacity for assembly of the 787 during the next year or two while the South Carolina plant is brought on line. He cited as his source Timothy Keating, senior vice president for government relations for Boeing.

Larsen and Inslee said Boeing is making a mistake placing the new production line in South Carolina. "We are the center of aerospace production in the world," Larsen said. "We have the best trained aerospace workers. These are the same aerospace workers that saved Boeing from the fire when there were delays in 787 production. And yet Boeing has made this decision to move a portion of their 787 facility."

Inslee said the Boeing board of directors is "taking a huge risk" moving production to South Carolina when it has already faced 787 production delays due to outsourcing of work to plants outside the Puget Sound area.

Neither congressman would speculate on whether constituents might follow Boeing to South Carolina, where the wages are considerably lower. But Larsen alluded to a possible connection between the South Carolina move and a much earlier decision Boeing made to move its headquarters away from this region.

"It's a decision made in the boardroom in Chicago that has an impact for men and women all over my district," said Larsen, whose district includes 30,000 Boeing union workers.

Washington state and South Carolina stand a continent apart, politically as well as geographically. The congressional delegation in South Carolina is predominantly Republican, including both senators, though among the southern state's six House members are two powerful Democrats, Rep. John Spratt, Jr., chairman of the House Budget Commi

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