Could Nike swoosh into Idaho?

IDAHO STATESMAN, 2/20/2010 by Dan Popkey - Nike founder Phil Knight is hopping mad at $727 million in tax increases on corporations and the wealthy in Oregon. Idaho leaders long to catch their rich neighbor's eye. ∴ Idaho has wooed Nike before - a revelation offered by Lt. Gov. Brad Little, who salivates at the prospect of landing one of the world's best-known brands. ∴ "Phil Knight was up front: Don't change the tax code, and if you do, we're going to do something," Little said. Knight hasn't expressed interest yet, Little said. "But we're gonna call him." Read more at the Idaho Statesman... Read More......

Nike Co-Founder Speak out Against 66 & 67

Published in the Benton Co. Republicans 1/17/2010 e-Newsletter [Excerpts from Phil Knight, co-founder and chairman of Nike, who wrote a guest column in the Oregonian on January 16, 2010] - “Measures 66 and 67 should be labeled ‘Oregon’s Assisted Suicide Law II’. They will allow us to watch a state slowly killing itself,” said Phil Knight, co-founder and chairman of Nike. ∴ Knight points out that Nike is now the only Fortune 500 company left in Oregon. Headquarters for other big companies that used to be in Oregon (The First National Bank, U.S. Bank, Pacific Power, Willamette Industries, Georgia-Pacific, Jantzen, White Stag, G.I. Joes, Monaco Coach, and Meier and Frank have fled Oregon. They are now headquartered elsewhere, are controlled by non-Oregonians or no longer exist. ∴ “We are way too anti-business. [Measures 66 and 67] are anti-business, anti-success, anti-inspirational, anti-humanitarian, and most ironically, in the long run, they will deprive the state of tax revenue, not increase it. ∴ There are words to describe what we are doing with 66 and 67: It is called a death spiral.” Read More......