Clintonomics: In Arkansas, Governor Usually Tries to Help Big Local Companies --- As Leader of a Poor State, He Often Puts Jobs Before Issues Like Environment --- Wooing `the Good Suit Club'
{Second of two articles on Bill Clinton's economic policies}</br></br>LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- When International Paper Co. threatened to close its Pine Bluff paper mill in 1985, Gov. Bill Clinton sprang into action.</br></br>Meeting with company executives, he agreed to a package of lucrative benefits, including a 7% sales-tax credit for manufacturers that invest $5 million or more in their Arkansas facilities. The result: The company stayed put. "I jumped on that thing like a hot rock," Mr. Clinton says proudly. "I plead guilty, I sure did."</br></br>But not everyone in the state is as happy with the result as Mr. Clinton. Critics say the tax break turned out to be a giveaway potentially totaling more than $100 million to prosperous businesses already located in the state. "He's just been too accommodating to those guys," grouses J. Bill Becker of the state's AFL-CIO. "He goes to them with hat in hand."</br></br>Mr. Clinton is running for president as a populist for the 1990s. He frequently launches rhetorical grenades at big business and calls for measures forcing them to spend more on training and to reduce bloated executive salaries. His proposals for investment tax incentives include a conspicuous tilt away from big companies and toward smaller ones.