Governor Chris Gregoire is leading a delegation of business leaders to Washington, D.C., today for meetings with members of the Obama administration. The governor's delegation includes CEOs from several mid-sized tech companies, as well as leaders from Microsoft and Weyerhaeuser. Their first meeting was about promoting trade and preventing piracy. But Gregoire says she's putting a special emphasis on Washington's community banks, which are struggling. Two small bank CEOs are with the delegation.

Gregoire: "They are a central part of the recovery economically in the state. They are the source of loans, particularly for our small businesses, but they are not getting the necessary help that they need for them to be able to be as productive as they must be able for our economic recovery."

Three of Washington's community banks have already failed. Three more are on a watch list, which the governor says is subjecting them to regulations that don't help but actually hurt them. They're asking for more flexibility from the FDIC – and if necessary for federal TARP money, which she says till now has gone to the big banks, at the peril of the little guys. (Bellamy Pailthorp)

Copyright 2009 KUOW

Listen