The $25-million incentive package given to Quintiles to expand its pharmaceutical research facilities in Durham County is even more sickening than the usual corporate welfare that state and local governments hand out all the time.
Quintiles was courted by cities such as Overland Park, Kan., and Kansas
City, Mo., because its business is central to the multibillion-dollar
drug industry. The company, which had about $2 billion in sales last
year, helps pharmaceutical companies test medicines before they go to
market….“We’re in a growth cycle in our business,” said Dennis B. Gillings,
the chief executive of Quintiles. “It’s not clear how long that will go
on, but I’m very confident that we’ve got several years ahead for us.”Other states bid aggressively to get the company’s expansion and put “substantial incentives in our path,” he said.
Growing
in Durham was not a given. General Counsel John S. Russell made that
clear in a meeting with Durham County Manager Mike Ruffin.He
said, ” ‘What we want to see from you, Mike, is that you do all you can
do,’ ” Ruffin recounted. “We didn’t just do all we could do, we doubled
it.”
Can you say, “extortion?”
“North Carolina made it sufficiently competitive that it made sense to
stay here and expand here,” Gillings said. “The location is important,
but the money created the twist.”
What the hell does “created the twist” mean? I thought Chubby Checker created the twist.
And The News & Observer‘s reporting on the incentives leaves much to be desired as well:
Losing the Quintiles investment would have been a significant blow to a
region that has tried to position itself as central to the medical
industry….The Triangle has remained the nerve center throughout the company’s
growth, and the region’s prestige might have eroded if it had expanded
elsewhere.
Aren’t these value judgments, rather than objective reporting? Not
to mention that the claims ring hollow. Research Triangle Park is
already well-positioned as a strong location “central to the medical
industry.” And I laugh at the concept that the “region’s prestige might
have eroded” had Quintiles expanded elsewhere — a dubious proposition
in and of itself, considering it’s questionable whether the company
would have gone forward with expanding elsewhere without the
incentives. Besides, how do we know that the breaks given to Quintiles
wouldn’t have been better used elsewhere — say, by individuals who get
to keep their money and invest it on their own?
Yet another wonderful ribbon-cutting and photo-op for politicians, encouraged and applauded by the main media in town.