Independent candidate outlines position

CAMDEN — The King who would be governor says the 1994 election could decide whether Maine becomes the hub of a global economy or a colonial backwater.

Angus King of Brunswick, independent candidate for governor, told Camden Rotarians Tuesday the good news about the future “is that Maine is no longer at the end of the line. We’re now in the center of a world economy, with great ports and airports hours closer to Europe than anywhere else in the country.

“The bad news is that everyone in the world wants our jobs. We have to wake up and act accordingly. If we don’t, the next election will be not for governor, but for a park ranger to take care of our three-month theme park,” he said.

The author/lawyer/journalist/entrepreneur/candidate laid blame for Maine’s precarious position squarely upon Augusta’s unresponsive, partisan Legislature and its entrenched, ever-growing bureaucracy, an unholy duo that has produced high taxes, a Workers’ Compensation system that doesn’t work, an anti-business attitude, an “absolutely crazy” environmental permitting process and dishonesty.

In his travels throughout the state for his energy-conservation consulting firm, King said he meets many business officials who dream fondly of leaving Maine and taking their jobs with them. “One paper mill executive said to me, `If my plant had feet, I’d walk it right over to New Hampshire,’ and another said, `Maine’s a great place to live, but every time I go to Augusta, I’m treated like I’m in the Mafia. I’m greeted with total hostility.’ Only in Augusta do you find the attitude that you can love employees and hate employers. We need a government that says it’s OK to create jobs, it’s OK to make a profit.”

If anyone thinks Maine’s forest-products industry is eternal, they’re not paying attention, King said. “Look at the mountains of raw logs stacked up in Portland for shipment overseas for processing. Listen to the talk in the paper industry about shipping loads of wood chips from Maine ports to foreign paper mills. Go back to your old social studies textbook and look up the definition of `colony.’ It’s a place where natural resources are taken for manufacturing elsewhere. Manufacturing is where wealth is created. Maine has no strategic business plan. We’re stumbling into the future.”

In addition to telling grim industrial anecdotes, King put on a brief slide show to graphically depict the state’s dismal state: charts showing Maine leading the nation in trading high-paying manufacturing jobs for low-paying service jobs, levying a total tax burden exceeding even the notorious Taxachusetts, and heading for the day when the number of state jobs will equal that of the private sector.

In attacking dishonesty in state government, King said he wasn’t referring to overt crimes, such as stealing elections, although he was critical of the 17-day jail sentence handed out to ballot-tamperer Ken Allen. “I’ve done 17 days just waiting in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles,” he said.

“I’m talking about fiscal dishonesty. Passing a budget without shutting down state government is no cause for celebration. It’s what we expect. How did we balance the budget? By selling ourselves 16 miles of a turnpike we already owned, by refinancing the state pension plan to save $125 million now at a cost of $3.6 billion in interest over the next 35 years, by deferring paying state workers from the last two weeks in June until July 1, a new fiscal year. That’s illegal in private business. If you did that, you’d get a rather unfriendly call from the attorney general.”

As one who helped write the state’s billboard law and the legislation that created the Land for Maine’s Future Board, King said he “would not change one comma in our environmental laws. The problem is in administration and the process. A process that requires 18 months to two years to get a permit is absurd.”

King said he decided to run for governor “because politics is too important to leave to politicians. The partisanship we see today wasn’t there 10 or 15 years ago. There was a time when legislation passed nearly unanimously after thoughtful debate and compromise. Today, it’s front-page news when legislators are even talking to each other.”

King reaffirmed his pledge not to accept any campaign contributions from PACs (political action committees). “If I can’t win that way, I won’t do it,” he said. “I’ve always thought it was wrong. There’s a tide rising in this state and I’m going to ride it. People have had it.”

Acknowledging his audience of monetary minded Rotarians, King offered a tip for making a killing next November. “Bet on me,” he said. “The odds are long and I’m going to win.”