OneMaine, one year

The disparity between the prosperous and growing parts of Maine and the poor and dwindling parts has been obvious for years, so obvious that in February 1998, just weeks after the worst ice storm here in a century, Gov. Angus King offered comfort with what at the time seemed certain to define his administration. OneMaine, as described in that State of the State speech, was his plan to lift the poorer regions out of the decades-long mire of high unemployment, low wages and lost hope. OneMaine was talked about after the speech but then largely disappeared.

Two weeks ago, nearly four years after OneMaine’s introduction, the King administration at last announced it would formally establish the program’s advisory board. To its credit, a board apparently had been meeting informally long before this, but in a state with little development, virtually no population growth, high taxes and an emptying of its rural areas, informal meetings somehow don’t seem like enough.

In describing OneMaine in ’98, Gov. King provided seven key elements to his plan. Some of them, like investing in natural resources and focusing on the economic growth industries, are difficult to measure. Others are clearer. For instance, the governor wanted an added tax break for new businesses going into areas of especially high unemployment and he got it. On most others, however, he had less success. Remember the university system’s Greater Maine Initiative? Neither does the system, which was supposed to use this program, according to the governor, to support “the development of local economies.” If it exists, it does so in secret. As, partly, does the Department of Economic and Community Development’s web page that would include a one-stop business license center. Nearly four years later, the governor’s office reports, DECD is still working on it.

But the most important point of all, the one the governor called “the essential element to making a local economy grow,” was local leadership, and to make his point he contrasted Portland’s economic development team to the single person in Washington County doing the same – Diane Tilton of Sunrise County Economic Council. So what’s been the change since then Down East? Ms. Tilton’s part-time receptionist got expanded duties, moved into development and last year went full time. That’s it. The two together no doubt do a terrific job, but they hardly represent the sort of resources suggested in the ’98 speech. By the way, when the Sunrise duo has asked for material or meeting minutes from the OneMaine team on its plans to reach out to local development efforts, they point out that they’ve gotten no reply.

Critics tear into OneMaine as nothing more than feel-good chatter designed to replace actually doing something. But it is more complicated than that. The idea behind OneMaine is sound: All of Maine can prosper by investing in education, research and development and local infrastructure, by making the state friendlier to businesses, by looking outward to see where the world is going and then leading the pack. And in areas such as R&D and business attraction, the administration has worked hard to change attitudes in Maine and make OneMaine mean something.

But it is frustrating to see, for instance, a formal advisory board take so long to form and downright depressing to see what the board lists as its accomplishments to date. Here’s the list:

“Created a OneMaine Investment Strategy … and presented that investment strategy at the Maine State Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting in October of 1999.

“Identified three goals for strategy development …

“Advised the Department of Economic and Community development on State Economic Development Strategy annual update …

“Combined strategic plans of regional, federal, state and other member organizations …

“Worked with Maine Public Broadcasting on a series that focuses on the diverse Maine economy …

“Worked with the Mature and Dominant Industries Study to coordinate recommended strategies.”

This is bureaucratic stakeholderism at a fever pitch, and while there certainly needs to be some coordinated paper pushing in any organization, it shouldn’t constitute that organization’s greatest hits. But that’s what this good idea appears to have been turned into: one among countless business-action-partnership-strategy paradigms destined for whatever over-stuffed closet that future administrations keep the failed reports of past administrations.

Gov. King still has time to build on his successes in R&D, jettison the vague and tepid direction this plan has taken and accomplish a few specific goals that will establish OneMaine as an important part of future development in rural Maine. One goal in particular: Forget the central planners and set up matching funds to create rural development offices so that when opportunity comes along there’s someone there to greet it.

On that February night in ’98, he told all of Maine, “The storm taught us the overriding importance of working together, of reaching out to one another; it taught us that when the chips are down, we are one people. What I am proposing here tonight is that we hold onto that idea and make it a reality in June as well as January, in Franklin as well as Freeport.”

Several Junes have passed without this happening; his administration has but one left and no time for further delay.