Editor,

Gov. Bob Ferguson should be ashamed of the hypocrisy shown by choosing to build Washington’s new ferries in Florida, rather than by Washington state’s Nichols Brothers on Whidbey Island and Everett.

The governor and the Democratic-leadership have been responsible for radically increasing costs to business in Washington state. As the Nichols company CEO has said, costs “posed by the state’s union-level wage and apprentice utilization requirements, small business and veteran set-asides, strict environmental rules and a mandatory DEI officer added costs that could not be overcome.”

Yet when it came time to pay those very costs Washington Democrats have imposed on businesses, they chose to purchase the new ferries out of state to avoid paying the higher costs.

It is no wonder that businesses are leaving Washington to escape the crushing burden of higher taxes and regulations.

Shameful!

Henry Missel

Langley