As President Joe Biden, Gov. Kathy Hochul and other political leaders gathered in Syracuse Thursday to mark Micron’s first steps to invest $100 billion over the next 20-plus years to build a leading-edge memory megafab, Republican candidate for governor Lee Zeldin criticized the state’s business climate.

Zeldin, a congressman from Long Island, was also in Syracuse Thursday morning to discuss crime at an apartment complex with a troubled past.

“Twelve days out from an election, this is a political visit that’s taking place,” Zeldin said before Biden’s arrival.

Micron plans to build a chip manufacturing facility in the White Pine Commerce Park in the town of Clay, potentially bringing tens of thousands of jobs to the region.

“I think the Micron deal tells you a story of where the business climate is right now in this state,” Zeldin said. “See in other states, they have businesses coming to the state because of low taxes, the regulatory environment, state agencies are run with a very pro-business approach. The business climate in other states are so much better, businesses just move to the state. There’s no way to get Micron to come to New York for low taxes. There’s no way to get Micron to come to New York because of the great regulatory environment. They’re not coming here because the state agencies are run by this great pro business culture. They’re not coming here because we have one of the best business climates in the country.”

Indeed, according to a survey released Tuesday, New York’s overall tax climate ranks 49th out of 50 states, between California (ranked 48th) and neighboring New Jersey (50th).

“You have to look at why they’re coming here, how we got here, what it took to get them here, because the fact that we’ve reached the point where we essentially have to bribe businesses to come to New York with billions of dollars of tax breaks, who won’t come here otherwise, I think highlights this state is heading in the wrong direction,” Zeldin said.

If elected governor, Zeldin said he would work to change that system. 

“We’ll work with Micron. We’ll do whatever we can to improve the business climate in this state, but as far as bringing other businesses to this state, we really have to get much smarter with our mindset,” he said.

Zeldin also lamented the state’s unemployment rate, which is one-third of what it was compared to this time last year, but remains higher than the national average as the state tries to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.