Maine jobs a shared responsibility

One of the greatest challenges we face in rural Maine is that of preserving existing jobs and creating new ones to give our young people the opportunities they need in order to stay here to carve out their own successful futures. Responsibility to help build the kind of economic climate necessary to meet this challenge must be a shared one if we are to succeed.

At the local level, it takes a core group of public officials, business people and citizens who care deeply about their community and are committed to ensuring its future. The most successful initiatives are those that recognize the passion for economic development – its heart and soul – lies at the local level, with the people who have the most at stake in its outcome. This model has resulted in success stories like the redevelopment at the former Loring Air Force Base, the deep-water port at Eastport, increased diversification of Lewiston-Auburn’s economy, and the palpable economic vitality of the Oxford Hills area.

Many of the solutions necessary to preserve and create jobs lie in Augusta, where our state leaders must take concrete steps to improve Maine’s long-languishing business climate. Faced with a similar economic climate and the out-migration of its youth, Ireland committed itself to economic renewal – and turned around decades of decline. As in Ireland, public officials here must understand the direct connection between policy decisions and good-paying private sector jobs. That means holding down taxes, maintaining the reforms made to our workers compensation laws during the McKernan administration, and making a strong commitment to improving the infrastructure for both transportation and research and development (R&D).

Many other answers can be found at the federal level. Most small businesspeople I talk with tell me that what they want first and foremost from their government are policies to help energize the spirit of entrepreneurship that creates jobs. That means keeping taxes to a reasonable level, so small businesses are able to invest more of their hard-earned money to grow and create more jobs. It also means reducing the costly red tape that comes from regulations all too often viewed as unnecessary or duplicative. The employee hours to comply with paperwork requirements alone can literally drain cash and resources out of small businesses’ bottom lines.

On a variety of other fronts at the federal level, we must be vigilant to make certain Maine’s needs receive the attention they deserve. That means putting an end to Maine’s dubious distinction of ranking dead last in New England in federal aid per mile of highway. It means standing up to make sure we get our fair share of the money the federal government spends on transportation infrastructure like roads, bridges, ports and airports – all critical to moving people and goods. It means combining free trade with fair trade to ensure a level playing field for Maine’s forest products workers, farmers, fishermen and other producers. It means supporting policies that make sure rural states like Maine are not left behind in the competition for jobs as future generations of new technologies emerge. And it means effectively utilizing valuable resources, such as those from Rural Development and the Economic Development Administration, to support local job-creation initiatives.

One of the single greatest opportunities for economic growth lies within the vast national commitment to R&D. In Fiscal Year 2002, the federal investment in R&D is more than $103 billion. It is crucial to Maine’s economic future that we move aggressively to advocate for our fair share of these funds.

While some areas of the country – such as North Carolina and Michigan – have successfully utilized R&D as an engine for economic expansion, Maine has traditionally fared poorly. While the State moved to increase its R&D investments from $2.5 million in 1995 to $41 million in 2001, Maine’s rank in overall R&D spending has improved only from 50th to 49th among the states. We clearly need to do much better.

Fortunately, the University of Maine has become a leader in recognizing the value of R&D, and is creating the infrastructure necessary to develop it even further in the future. Learning from the examples of Jackson Lab and Mount Desert Island Biological Lab, the state of Maine has also come to recognize R&D’s merit, investing $10 million a year in University research infrastructure, and $6 million a year to fund the Maine Technology Center.

The benefits of R&D with respect to jobs are immense. The immediate vicinity where R&D occurs, of course, benefits from a high-end work force and the spin-off of ancillary businesses that grow up around it. Rural areas of Maine that depend on a natural resource-based economy benefit from research on agricultural products like potatoes, blueberries and apples, research on forestry practices and new processes for pulp and paper production, as well as research on groundfish and aquaculture. And of course, we all benefit from biomedical research that can improve health for us and our loved ones.

We have at our disposal many tools that can contribute to strengthening our economy over the long term. Putting all these tools to work requires a sense of urgency from Maine people, an unwavering determination by elected officials to change the status quo, and the vision and leadership necessary to establish and maintain a well-coordinated effort among local, state and federal officials.

Our ability to provide opportunity here at home for today’s young people and future generations is at stake. Shared responsibility means forging and maintaining partnerships between the private and public sectors, between academia and science, and between the local, state and federal levels of government. Working together, we can help stop the southward flow of our youth and put all of Maine on the path to a stronger economy.

Kevin L. Raye of Perry is a candidate for the Republican nomination in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. He formerly served as chief of staff to Sen. Olympia J. Snowe.