You Go, Jim

1/3/08
To: Geoffrey Norman; editor, Vermont Tiger
From: Jack Harding; chairman, Vermont Tiger
re: open letter to Governor Douglas.  Pls. post

Governor Douglas Gets It Right

Dear Governor Douglas,

You deserve great credit for honestly discussing Vermont’s low and  decreasing attractiveness to new business.  While often portrayed by your political opponents as unnecessarily negative and, in fact, a liability to recruiting new firms, the fact -- as pointed out often  in Vermont Tiger – is that no rational business person would enter  Vermont without the facts in hand already.  Your candor and, in fact, leadership on this issue set a new course for your tenure; one that needs to be supported by all of us who are concerned for Vermont’s deteriorating status and long tern viability.

Any business person will tell you that he or she prefers to hear bad news first.  It is mind numbing to me to think that our most senior legislators could believe, and say publicly, that your candid comments would do anything other than establish you as the kind of  political leader that a CEO could trust.  Implicitly, the critics are saying that the business leaders who would bring their firms to Vermont are susceptible to some clever spin of the economic facts and the basic realities of doing business in Vermont. This is exactly this kind of hubris and arrogance that have put Vermont in its current condition.

There is nothing wrong with putting one’s best foot forward.  But it is clear that hyping the Vermont view or its quality of life as we score at or near the bottom of most relevant tax and business policy rankings is not sufficient to attract business…and jobs…and taxpayers.  Arrogance again?  There is not a state in this country that cannot claim that its views, quality of life, clean water, and great universities….make it special.  Have your critics seen the Sierra  Nevada mountains? The Rockies? The Smokeys?   Have they heard of  Stanford, University of Colorado, or Duke? Pick a state.  Winning differentiation comes from the public policies that affect companies directly; taxes, work force and infrastructure….can I use my cell phone? Can my employees afford to live here? Can we prosper so that, yes, we can contribute to our communities?

Governor Douglas, these high marks are yours for making the debate.  Your legacy will now be graded by making the fight.  Your leadership here is refreshing and critical.  Vermonters want clean growth.  They want leadership that unravels the hyperbole of those politicians telling them we don’t need those new businesses anyway. Most  importantly, we want the truth so we can resist the sugar-coated,  irresponsible policies that are crushing this state under their own weight.

Jack Harding

Comments

[David Bumgardner]

Good comment, Mr Harding re our Governor. I swear however he has to have tongue in cheek when he lauds Vermont as business friendly. He is doing his duty to the State but somewhere along the line our Legislature totally appears out of touch with the seriousness of what they should be doing. The backlash vote of two years ago is over. The adage of the higher the monkey climbs on the tree the more his ass shows. This Legislature needs forward thinkers not ostriches and if we do not get property, education, and meaningful tax relief and reforms that will increase the economic base of this State, it will be totally unattractive to retirees, part-timers, businesses and that we treasure the most our younger generation. Gov. Douglas you do have an audience out here. Don't quit.

[G. Cross]

As the man said, "You're doing a hellva job, Jim!"

WCAX’s Year-End Report on Vermont’s Business, 2007:
MetroGroup in Rutland shuts down,200 jobs lost.
Dirigo mill in Gilman shuts down, 115 jobs lost.
Qimonda in Williston shuts down, 135 jobs lost.
Specialty Filaments in Middlebury goes bankrupt, 180 jobs lost. Some jobs recovered.
Standard Register in Middlebury, after 42 years, shuts down. 112 jobs lost.
Neo EMS in Brandon cuts 20 jobs, 1/3 of its workforce.

Quote thanks to the Vermont Tiger.

[Jack Harding]

I'm not worried about all those folks who lost their jobs, Mr. Cross. They will be hired either into State jobs or the Teachers Union...you know, where we have the extra budgets to spend.

I have to admit I agree with your premise that, as CEO of VT, Jim Douglas must ultimately be held accountable for these job losses. And I also don't support the line of defense that, "I'm stuck with this clueless legislature and can't do my job". While that is also true it is the Governor's responsibility to make it happen, anyway, or step aside.

My attaboy to the Governor was a mere attempt to recognize him for being honest about Vermont's, and therefore, his problems. In no way was I suggesting a hall pass.

Happy New Year.

[James Ehlers]

Dear Mr. Cross,
What responsibility does the Speaker and President Pro Tempore bear for the situations you highlight, if any?

Sincerely,
James Ehlers

[G. Cross]

Dear Mr. Ehlers,

When you post an article overly complimentary to Mr. Shumlin and Ms Symington, I will undoubtedly comment that you have stretched the facts, again.

Cordially,
George Cross

[James Ehlers]

Dear Mr. Cross,
Is there a reason you did not answer the question?

Sincerely,
James Ehlers

[David Mace]

With all due respect, simply pointing out notable plant closures/job losses presents an incomplete and unbalanced picture. Dan McLean's piece in the Burlington Free Press also reported these setbacks, but also noted significant job creations in 2007, including:

"Cosmetic company Autumn Harp Inc. announced plans in February to expand in Essex and hire 50 more employees.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters of Waterbury announced an expansion in July that would create 40 to 50 jobs in Essex.

Also in July, snowboard and apparel company Burton Corp. announced plans to create 270 jobs at its Burlington headquarters over the next five years.

Plasan USA, a company based in Israel that makes armor for military vehicles, announced in November plans to add 100 employees in Bennington.

Connor Homes LLC, which builds Colonial home kits, purchased the Middlebury Standard Register Co. building in July for $2.4 million. It will move from another Middlebury location.

Thomas Monahan Co., an Arcola, Ill. broom manufacturer, bought the Specialty Filaments building in Middlebury for $3.1 million at the end of January; Monahan SFI LLC, as the business is now known, employs 137 people--about 80 of which are drawn from the 175 employees who lost their jobs when Specialty Filaments closed."

In almost all of these cases, direct assistance by the State of Vermont and the Douglas Administration were part of the decision to create new jobs or preserve existing ones.

This administration has worked tirelessly to grow Vermont’s economy and help create more good-paying jobs for Vermonters, and resisted proposals we believed would make Vermont less affordable and less attractive to businesses. We are happy to discuss our record on job creation – more than 10,300 jobs created in Vermont since January 2003 – but let’s talk about the whole record, not just part of it.

David A. Mace

Director of Communications

Vt. Agency of Commerce and Community Development

National Life Building

One National Life Drive

Montpelier, VT 05620-0501

Phone: (802) 828-5229

Fax: (802) 828-3383

www.dca.state.vt.us

[Jack Harding]

At the Tiger Symposium Art Woolf made the quantitative case Vermont has had a net loss in jobs. Further, this site has publsished the fact that job growth has occurred in those areas funded by tax dollars; state, education and healthcare. This hardly increased the size of the pie.

BTW, what does "resisted proposals that would make VT less affordable" mean? Probably not much. Please tell me about the proposals you have made to make Vermont prosperous so we could move away from this defeatist affordability notion.

[GreggB]

Mr. Harding has an excellent point about the difference between afford ability and prosperity. We'd do well to talk about the difference more often.

[David Mace]

Mr. Harding:

Governor Douglas in the last year opposed proposals by the majority in the Legislature to raise taxes on: income; gasoline; home heating fuel; real estate transfers; minivans, SUVs and pickup trucks (the "gas guzzler tax"); and of course Vermont Yankee.

This administration proposed a reform of Vermont's expensive Workers Compensation system several years ago; the Legislature refused to enact most of it.

The Governor proposed the $105 million Jobs Bill in 2003, the largest single investment in job creation in our state’s history, and created an angel investor tax credit.

This administration has increased spending on economic development and workforce training programs to help our employers and workers compete in the global marketplace.

We're working to grow high-wage sectors like software development and environmental engineering.

All of this is done with an Economic Development Department of roughly a dozen people.

I'm not sure how efforts aimed making Vermont more affordable, both for businesses and the Vermonters they employ, are "defeatist" rather than efforts to increase prosperity by encouraging economic growth.

You may wish that the Governor had done more, but your acknowledgement that he faces a Legislature that opposes him on most of these issues is on point. I'm not sure why you suggest he "step aside" because he has been unable to overcome this opposition on every issue related to economic development.

Governor Douglas has consistently put forward a vision of a Vermont that is more prosperous for all of its people. It is a positive vision, and its popularity with Vermonters has been measured by his electoral success.

[Geoffrey Norman]

Vermont job picture, March 06 to March 07:

Private sector: minus 443
Public Sector: plus 445

Net Job Growth: plus 2

source: Vermont Economy Newsletter, December 07