King urges local self reliance Governor calls for less dependence on state at Bangor event

BANGOR – Gov. Angus King wants local communities, particularly those from Bangor heading north to Canada and east to the coastline, to take control of their economic destiny.

“Don’t tell me that geography determines your fate,” an impassioned King told about 200 people at a business breakfast Thursday morning at Husson College.

King, responding to a question from an audience member about what Washington County can do to grow its economy, said it’s up to the leadership in the Down East area to take charge and not the state government.

Washington County is one of the most economically depressed areas of the state with one of the highest unemployment rates at 8 percent. King said even though that’s high, it’s better than the nearly 15 percent rate of more than five years ago.

“Washington County has not made the transition from a natural resources-based economy,” King said. “I believe Washington County is going to be OK, but its going to take time. The state can help, Washington [D.C.] can help, but ultimately it’s going to take local help, local entrepreneurial help to get it going.”

King said the idea that federal or state governments should come in and rescue Washington County or any other area of the state is not the attitude to be taking.

“We have created an expectation in this country that every problem has a government solution and that’s not true,” King said. “Government’s best role is to build the infrastructure and then get out of the way. And that’s a radical thing to say from a man who just spent the last seven years in government.”

As examples, King said Fort Kent took steps to revitalize its economy by rallying around Kent Inc., a manufacturer of children’s sleepwear, when it was losing a major contract, and by convincing credit-card giant MBNA to set up a call center there.

He also mentioned Bangor’s success in securing the national folk festival, which will be held along the waterfront each summer for three years starting this August.

“So the idea that rural Maine is not developing is not accurate,” King said. “Some areas of the state are doing better than they have the right to.”

“Good things don’t fall out of the sky,” he added. “You have to grab it.”

King’s hour-long address focused on local leadership and innovation. While he was trying to be motivational to area businesses and local government officials who were listening to him, he also was issuing warnings about how fragile the state’s economy is right now.

While the state’s unemployment rate currently is one of the lowest in the country, and Maine’s personal income growth rate was one of the highest in the nation last year, King said the state’s economy is teetering between future stability or outright failure.

Maine’s traditional industries, such as papermaking, wood products, poultry and shoes, have been losing workers partly because of manufacturing efficiencies but mostly because of changes in the global economy, he said.

“We think we’re the center of the universe but we’re not,” King said. “Everybody’s going through the same kind of transition.”

But, he said, the state needs to do what it can to keep businesses in the state, whether they are traditional industries or newer service-based ones, by improving education, investing in research and development, and instituting a favorable tax policy. Just because businesses currently are located in the state doesn’t mean that they’re going to stay here, he said.

“We have no lock on keeping businesses here,” King said. “Maine is on a tipping point. It’s not written in the stars that Maine will succeed. There’s no guarantees.”

King criticized people in Bar Harbor for complaining about the expansion plans of Jackson Laboratory, a genetics company that employs more than 1,100 people and contributes more than $25 million to the local economy. Some environmental groups in the island community are upset that the expansion may not be in line with the town’s development plans.

King held up a copy of Thursday’s Bangor Daily News, with the headline, “Jackson Lab chief defends expansion.”

“We’ve got to defend expansion?” King asked. “How many headlines like that do you have to have until the board says we’re going to expand somewhere else where we don’t have to defend expansion.”

Responding to another question from an audience member about term limits, King replied, “It’s been a disaster. The reason it’s been a disaster is that we’ve lost continuity. I supported it … I think it was a mistake. The ultimate term limit takes place in the ballot box.”

Using the state Legislature’s Utilities and Energy Committee as an example, King said only one of the committee’s 13 members was on the panel when the state restructured its electricity markets several years ago.

“We’re going to rework this important piece of legislation and nobody knows it,” King said. “Everybody’s reinventing everything.”

Reacting to King’s speech, Susmita Chatterjee, an adjunct professor of international business at Husson, asked the governor for specifics on how local communities can be innovative, can develop economically without state government’s help and without term limits.

“How do you propose we follow up with all of these beautiful visions that you have?” Chatterjee asked. “All these seeds that we have planted should sprout, but how?”

“Ultimately, in our system, there’s change,” King said. “Who is elected makes all the difference.”

King paused for a second, then stated, “That’s a contradiction to what I just said.”