News

Martz skeptical of business pitch

A Virginia company outlined an ambitious program to turn Montana into the manufacturing hub for everything from building materials made from recycled baby diapers to fertilizer Thursday, but Gov. Judy Martz took a skeptical view of their sky-high promises.

By JENNIFER McKEE – IR State Bureau

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2004/08/20/montana/a08082004_01.txt

‘‘So much of this sounds too good to be true,” Martz said after the company president promised bringing thousands of new jobs to Montana. ‘‘I’d be less than honest if I didn’t say that.”

Rodrigo Guajardo, the Chilean-born president of InfoTrek, spent an hour talking with Martz about his company, which does everything from train law enforcement officers to make a mysterious machine that douses wildfires when dropped on an inferno from 30,000 feet in the air. Guajardo told the governor he couldn’t show her a picture of the machine because other companies would rip it off.

His meeting was originally billed as a chance to talk about building a regional law enforcement training center in Montana that would offer advanced training to state, federal and tribal officers. But Guajardo told Martz he had something much bigger in mind for Montana.

First, he wants to manufacture a wide variety of agricultural products in Montana, possibly in Butte, from raw materials produced in Mexico. The products included things like cattle feed that wouldn’t cause mad cow disease and fertilizer. Second, he wants to build a plant to make ‘‘master bricks” — building materials made from recycled tires and diapers. Finally, he wants to build a regional law enforcement training center here.

click here

‘‘We can make a lot of revenue,” he said.

Guajardo said he didn’t want the state’s money; he only wanted a letter of support from Martz he could show federal officials and others to drum up money for the projects.

The meeting came about through discussions Corrections Chief Bill Slaughter had with company representatives originally focused on bringing InfoTrek law enforcement experts here to train Montana officers.

Martz said she didn’t know if she could support the idea and needed more information about the company to back Guajardo’s claims. He invited her to Mexico.

‘‘I want to believe everything you’re saying,” Martz said. ‘‘But I’ve learned in this world that’s not true.”

Sorry, we couldn't find any posts. Please try a different search.

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.