Political shipwreck
Boat builders: John Kerry could have created jobs in U.S.
Jessica Fargen By Jessica Fargen
Sunday, July 25, 2010 - Updated 1 hour ago
New England boat builders say shame on Sen. John Kerry for buying a $7 million New Zealand-built luxury yacht while local ship makers struggle to find work.
?Darn, that would have been a wonderful job for a Maine builder,? said Jane Wellehan, president of the trade group Maine Built Boats. ?If someone comes to build a $7 million boat that would employ half the population of some towns for a year or two. Boat building is such a critical component of our coastal economy.?
Gregory Egan, who owns the Crosby Yacht Yard in Osterville, said Bay State boat builders must feel cut adrift by Kerry as well.
?I?m confident that anything constructed in New Zealand could be constructed here in the state,? he said. ?From a political perspective, it seems to me he could have thought twice about that one.?
News that Kerry was docking the 76-foot custom-built sloop in Newport, R.I., was first reported in the Herald Friday. Sources told the Herald the yacht cost $7 million, meaning Kerry would owe the state more than $500,000 in excise and sales taxes.
The Isabel has two VIP main cabins, a glossy teak interior and a wet bar and wine storage in the pilothouse. It is billed as a ?departure from the norm in the opulent world of yachting? and designed to be piloted without a crew.
With the nation enduring a nasty economy, painful joblessness and extreme belt-tightening, word of the luxury yacht?s foreign construction - as Americans yearn for work - could create a political tempest for Kerry.
?The message is, ?The American boat builders aren?t good enough, and the Massachusetts people aren?t good enough to maintain it.? It?s just a bad message all around,? said Connecticut boater Steve Potter, who docks in Charlestown.
When asked to respond to criticism of Kerry?s decision not to buy American, his state director, Drew O?Brien, said: ?When it comes to creating and preserving jobs and economic opportunity in Massachusetts, no one has worked harder in Washington than John Kerry. Sen. Kerry is using smarts, clout and good old-fashioned hard work to make the Massachusetts economy grow and prosper.?
Steve Capozzola, media director for the Alliance for American Manufacturing, was surprised at Kerry?s move. House Democrats are pushing legislation to boost American manufacturing jobs.
?It?s ironic that he?d be buying a foreign-made boat when the House Democrats are considering a number of measures to revitalize American manufacturing,? he said.
The Isabel is owned by Great Point LLC in Pittsburgh, according to a U.S. Coast Guard registry. Pittsburgh is home to Kerry?s ketchup heiress wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. Great Point is a lighthouse in Nantucket, where Kerry has a waterfront manse.
Massachusetts has a 6.25 percent sales tax and local boat excise taxes, but Rhode Island does not tax boats. Kerry has homes in Boston and Nantucket, but has said he docks his yacht in Newport for upkeep and charter purposes. Kerry?s spokesman has said the senator will pay taxes if they are owed.
When asked Friday whether he would move the boat, Kerry was noncommital. ?That?s a decision in the future,? he told reporters.
Capt. Kerry out to sea:
Boat builders: John Kerry could have created jobs in U.S.
Jessica Fargen By Jessica Fargen
Sunday, July 25, 2010 - Updated 1 hour ago
New England boat builders say shame on Sen. John Kerry for buying a $7 million New Zealand-built luxury yacht while local ship makers struggle to find work.
?Darn, that would have been a wonderful job for a Maine builder,? said Jane Wellehan, president of the trade group Maine Built Boats. ?If someone comes to build a $7 million boat that would employ half the population of some towns for a year or two. Boat building is such a critical component of our coastal economy.?
Gregory Egan, who owns the Crosby Yacht Yard in Osterville, said Bay State boat builders must feel cut adrift by Kerry as well.
?I?m confident that anything constructed in New Zealand could be constructed here in the state,? he said. ?From a political perspective, it seems to me he could have thought twice about that one.?
News that Kerry was docking the 76-foot custom-built sloop in Newport, R.I., was first reported in the Herald Friday. Sources told the Herald the yacht cost $7 million, meaning Kerry would owe the state more than $500,000 in excise and sales taxes.
The Isabel has two VIP main cabins, a glossy teak interior and a wet bar and wine storage in the pilothouse. It is billed as a ?departure from the norm in the opulent world of yachting? and designed to be piloted without a crew.
With the nation enduring a nasty economy, painful joblessness and extreme belt-tightening, word of the luxury yacht?s foreign construction - as Americans yearn for work - could create a political tempest for Kerry.
?The message is, ?The American boat builders aren?t good enough, and the Massachusetts people aren?t good enough to maintain it.? It?s just a bad message all around,? said Connecticut boater Steve Potter, who docks in Charlestown.
When asked to respond to criticism of Kerry?s decision not to buy American, his state director, Drew O?Brien, said: ?When it comes to creating and preserving jobs and economic opportunity in Massachusetts, no one has worked harder in Washington than John Kerry. Sen. Kerry is using smarts, clout and good old-fashioned hard work to make the Massachusetts economy grow and prosper.?
Steve Capozzola, media director for the Alliance for American Manufacturing, was surprised at Kerry?s move. House Democrats are pushing legislation to boost American manufacturing jobs.
?It?s ironic that he?d be buying a foreign-made boat when the House Democrats are considering a number of measures to revitalize American manufacturing,? he said.
The Isabel is owned by Great Point LLC in Pittsburgh, according to a U.S. Coast Guard registry. Pittsburgh is home to Kerry?s ketchup heiress wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. Great Point is a lighthouse in Nantucket, where Kerry has a waterfront manse.
Massachusetts has a 6.25 percent sales tax and local boat excise taxes, but Rhode Island does not tax boats. Kerry has homes in Boston and Nantucket, but has said he docks his yacht in Newport for upkeep and charter purposes. Kerry?s spokesman has said the senator will pay taxes if they are owed.
When asked Friday whether he would move the boat, Kerry was noncommital. ?That?s a decision in the future,? he told reporters.
Capt. Kerry out to sea:
