Rossi tells story about nephew that seems to fudge the facts

At pancake breakfasts and candidate forums across the state, Dino Rossi has invoked his nephew's name as an emblem for what ails Washington.

Rossi blames Washington's unfriendly business climate for driving his nephew, Kenny, and his business to Arizona. The gubernatorial candidate also has cautioned that the next Microsoft or Boeing founder could leave for Arizona, just as Kenny did.

What Rossi doesn't say is that Kenny was a self-employed car detailer and that he left for personal reasons as much as business, according to his nephew.

Rossi uses the story to underscore a campaign theme: Washington will thrive if government becomes friendlier toward businesses.

Kenneth Strieby, 34, did leave Washington for Arizona several years ago, when the state's unemployment rate was about 5 percent. "I just felt things weren't working out there [in Washington] as good as I wanted them to," he said in an interview from Phoenix, where he now lives.

A Seattle friend moved to Phoenix and started the same kind of business — minor paint repairs — that Strieby had been operating in Bothell. That connection to his friend and hard work helped him succeed in Arizona.

Strieby runs his business as a sole proprietorship, and in October 2002, he bought a $260,000 house with a woman who is now his wife.

"I'm not some rich guy," he said. "I'm doing good for myself. ... I happened to come at a good time," he added, describing Phoenix as "a booming city."

He probably will stay, he said.

Rossi said he was "not intimately involved in every detail of [Kenny's] life," and so he wasn't sure what personal reasons led to his nephew's move.

With the exception of two brothers who moved to Alaska and Texas, no one from his immediate family had left the state for an extended period. And, he said, they all came back.

"If you get down there and you find the opportunities are greater, then that's obviously better than the business climate we have here," Rossi said.

Susan Kelleher: (206) 464-2508; skelleher@seattletimes.com