The latest figures from Maine’s Department of Labor put the unemployment rate at 8 percent, slightly below the national average.
High jobless claims and the economy are national issues. But several candidates in the Maine gubernatorial race have localized the problem, saying the state isn’t doing enough to create jobs and encourage business growth.
Some candidates have claimed the state’s regulatory standards are cumbersome and confusing for businesses. Others have focused on the high cost of energy in Maine, while others have proposed reduced licensing fees and taxes.
Each of the candidates has different ideas, and so do businesses. A 2010 study by the Maine Development Foundation surveyed more than 1,000 state business leaders, who created a list of priorities to improve the business climate.
It should come as no surprise that some of those priorities — reducing health care costs, streamlining regulation, lowering the tax burden — have been repeated on the campaign trail.
Eliot Cutler, 64, independent
Cutler has often described the state’s business regulations and the cost of doing business as a “wall of no” that discourages growth and investment.
“We’ve created a cost structure in Maine, cost of living and doing business, that is keeping investment out,” he said. “It’s driving capital that’s in Maine, and could be invested in Maine, away from the state. We have to change that.”
If elected, Cutler said he’d immediately sign an executive order creating the Office of Regulatory Review and Repeal — headed by someone he calls the “grim repealer” — to examine the state’s four regulatory agencies for unnecessary restrictions.
He has also proposed replacing the state’s Board of Environmental Protection with a three-judge appellate panel to review decisions by the Department of Environmental Protection and other state rule-makers.
Maine’s Board of Environmental Protection is a citizen panel that reviews applications submitted to the DEP.
But before breaking down the “wall of no,” Cutler said the state desperately needs to reduce its electricity costs. He wants to create a public power authority that would negotiate for cheaper rates, partner with the state’s private energy entrepreneurs and stop Maine from being an energy exporter.
Cutler also believes the state should focus on the tourism industry. He said the state should aggressively develop and market the “Maine brand” and fold current economic development activity into what he’d call a Department of Commerce and Tourism.
John Jenkins, 58, independent
Jenkins said the state has to be careful about relaxing its regulatory environment to appease businesses.
“If you let people just run wild, you see what happens,” he said. “The Wild West kicks in and you’ve got a big problem and the regular people take it on the chin. The fat cats get away.”
Jenkins said he wants to protect Maine’s laws but review them to make sure they’re not so “prohibitive that we stifle innovation and investment.”
Jenkins wasn’t specific about how he’d encourage job growth, but said he’d pursue “business-friendly public policy” and work to lower the cost of doing business in Maine.
Paul LePage, 61, Republican
LePage has often said that government can’t create jobs, only private businesses can.
LePage believes Maine has made it too difficult for business growth. He said the state’s regulatory agencies have to be more supportive of businesses, not just penalize them.
“I believe in good, common-sense regulations,” he said. “I don’t want roadblocks.”
LePage said he wants a streamlined permitting process so that a new business can be up and running within 90 days.
One of LePage’s more controversial proposals includes folding the state DEP into the Department of Agriculture. He reasoned that businesses are the best stewards of a resource because their livelihood depends on its sustainability.
LePage also wants to lower the cost of starting a business by reducing filing fees.
He also says his job-creation plan dovetails with his education proposal to allow high school students to earn college credits and to create a program connecting employers with high school students who are interested in entering the work force immediately after graduation.
Libby Mitchell, 70, Democrat
Mitchell agreed that the state is desperate to create more jobs, but said it must balance that need with preserving its quality of place.
Nonetheless, Mitchell said some regulations can needlessly hurt business growth.
She has proposed merging the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development with the State Planning Office to create an Office of Strategic Initiatives and Job Creation.
The new agency would run through the Governor’s Office and be staffed by individuals skilled in dealing with businesses, she said. Mitchell said the State Planning Office and the DECD sometimes struggle to work with one another, often creating unnecessary hurdles for businesses that want to expand or come to Maine.
The new agency would assist with permitting and financial assistance for businesses.
Previous attempts to consolidate state agencies have encountered push-back from the Legislature.
Mitchell is also a proponent of tax-incentive programs that encourage business growth, such as the state’s Pine Tree Zones.
She also believes state investment in renewable energy would create jobs.
Shawn Moody, 51, independent
Moody, a small business owner, said the state’s regulatory environment can be difficult, confusing and discouraging for entrepreneurs.
He said strict business rules too often benefit big corporations at the expense of small businesses because the large companies have the resources to navigate a complicated regulatory landscape.
Moody said the state should work just as hard supporting its existing businesses as it does luring new companies.
“To me, we should redeploy the money we’re spending to get out-of-state companies to reinvest in the businesses right here at home,” he said.
Moody said he favors changing the state tax code on business equipment depreciation write-offs to match the federal law. Maine currently caps the write-off at $25,000, while the Internal Revenue Service allows up to $250,000.
Moody would also review regulatory standards and costs requiring a business to obtain a DEP site permit if it expands over 3 acres. He said he would want to create new categories for small and micro-businesses so the regulations and permitting were more equitable.
Moody also supports strengthening Maine’s vocational education programs so students opting not to attend college have the training and tools to start their own businesses.
Kevin Scott, 42, independent
Scott said the state has to strike a balance between regulating businesses and protecting the environment.
“We want to protect our quality of life and sense of place in Maine to a point that it’s been detrimental to business development,” Scott said.
He favors rebuilding the state’s agricultural economy by requiring public schools to buy food from Maine farmers and growers. He says farmers would receive low-interest or low-cost loans as incentives to expand their operations.
Scott, who runs a recruiting firm, also believes the state should work to lower energy costs by renegotiating or abandoning its contract with ISO-New England.
He also thinks the state should reach out to more “business-friendly” states to glean economic development and business-attraction strategies.
Remaining television debates for the gubernatorial race:
— Oct. 26, WAGM Channel 8 (Presque Isle), 7-8:30 p.m.
— Oct. 27, WABI Channel 5 (Bangor), 7-8:30 p.m.
— Oct. 28, MPBN Channel 10 (90.1 FM radio), at Bates College, 7-9 p.m.
— Oct. 30, WGME Channel 13, 8-9 p.m.*
* Tentative
Remaining local, non-televised forums
— Oct. 21, Natural Resources Council of Maine forum at University of Southern Maine Glickman Library, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.
— Oct. 22, Maine School Management Association Forum at Augusta Civic Center, 11 a.m to 12:30 p.m.
Remaining televised debates for the 2nd congressional district:
— Oct. 27, WCSH Channel 6, 7 p.m.
— Nov. 1, MPBN Channel 10 (90.1 FM radio), 1 p.m.
Tomorrow: The next governor’s philosophy on picking judges for Maine’s courts.
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