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Gates says to stress education

By LUCY MORGAN
Published August 20, 2005

SEATTLE - It's not tax incentives that attract bright minds and tech savvy businesses to a state, Microsoft founder Bill Gates told state legislators this week.

"K-12 and university education trump all others in attracting new business," Gates insisted.

The technology and biological industries are far more sensitive to locating near brains than to tax policies, Gates said.

"You can go overboard on those things," he added.

When an area comes up with a breakthrough in medicine or some other important field, it doesn't depend on taxes.

"It's a positive R and D (research and development) environment and a state where the talent enjoys coming and working there and raising kids in that location."

Perhaps Florida didn't have to spend more than $350-million in taxpayer money to lure the Scripps Foundation to the state?

Perhaps it should have been invested in education, said Rep. Curtis Richardson, D-Tallahassee after hearing Gates.

Richardson and about 55 other Florida lawmakers and some legislative staffers are among the 7,000 people gathered in Seattle for the National Conference of State Legislatures. It's a chance for legislators to catch up with events in other states and attend sessions on many important issues affecting us all.

Seattle has attracted almost twice as many lawmakers as Salt Lake City did last year - a credit to its location in the far northwestern corner of the United States and cool August weather.

Like anything that attracts lawmakers, the conference has attracted its share of lobbyists. Twenty-four of Florida's big businesses sent lobbyists to sponsor a dinner at the Waterfront Grill, a pricey restaurant on the banks of Puget Sound. Lobbyists Keyna and Jack Cory put the dinner together and greeted about 125 members of the Florida delegation Wednesday night.

Lawmakers also got a chance to see the Mariners take on the Kansas City Royals at Safeco Field and spent another night at the Space Needle, the distinctive spire built for the 1962 World's Fair.

Nighttime events played out under a full moon with the snow-covered peaks of Mount Rainier in the background and ferry boats making their regular runs to Bremerton and Vashon Island. Not a bad backdrop for any conference.

Yes, it's a trip made primarily at taxpayer expense, but most of those attending seem to be spending lots of time at the Seattle Convention & Trade Center listening to folks like Gates talk about ways to solve problems.

More than 2,000 jammed the auditorium to hear Gates, described by University of Washington president Mark Emmert as "the world's most famous college dropout."

Gates dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft and never looked back, but nowadays he hires college graduates and spends a lot of time urging young people to stay in college.

"It's amazingly ironic," Gates conceded, that he wants employees with four-year degrees who do a lot on their own and embrace technology.

The key limitation on expanding business is not money, Gates says. It is finding people who meet the right criteria.

Gates got into computers when he was 13. With the help of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Gates got access to computers at the University of Washington in the early morning hours when they were not in use.

"So if you think the resources at universities aren't being used enough, you are wrong," Gates joked. "And if there is a 13-year-old out wandering across the campus at 3 a.m., leave him alone."

Immigration restrictions imposed by the United States since 9/11 are affecting the flow of great minds into the country, Gates complained. We need to keep a balance between the need for national security and the flow of brain power to great universities.

Gates also thanked the state legislators for getting involved in laws that attempt to stop spam. Even Gates gets spam.

"I was offered a college degree on the Internet, and another one offered to pay all my legal costs for a few dollars a month," Gates joked.

[Last modified August 20, 2005, 01:14:08]