Matheson, Huntsman favor a high-tech future for Utah

Huntsman said major newspapers and financial publications need to note Utah's developments in years to come.

"We are about ready to burst open in this state. We need vision. We need leadership. We need the assets that are already in our satchel brought together to move forward. This is what I think has been lacking most. We have critical mass, but it is a little bit discombobulated."

Huntsman said the state needs some "home runs" to draw attention from the industry and its publications.

"Guaranteed, we get a headquarters, a research and development site, even a regional headquarters, people are going to take note," he said. "All I have to do is go back 15 years ago to the halcyon days of Novell, WordPerfect, Iomega and others where we were talked about as being on the map. Everybody wanted to be here. They wanted to be here because others were here and were succeeding."

His plans call for tax and regulatory reform. As for the former, he suggested a five-year "forgiveness" of taxes for start-up companies with annual revenues under $5 million. Regarding the latter, Huntsman said, "We can't do everything, but, guaranteed, we can take two or three or four regulatory issues, whether it's paperwork or whether it's licensing — what have you — and make it better. We've never tried anything like this."

Those regulatory issues need input from the private sector, he added, with a regulatory reform team to talk to small and medium-size businesses to see "what it is that is either driving them out of the state or causing them to fail internally and then do something about that."

Both candidates said Utah needs better venture capital. "We need not $500 million in private venture capital. We need $2 billion in private venture capital. And that's a goal I'm going to set for myself, and if I don't get it, you can vote me out of office," Huntsman said.

Huntsman, however, cautioned that "a governor can't create jobs," but rather should work to encourage a competitive environment.

"I know my place in the world. I know that governors come and go and will be soon forgotten if I win. But people who are creating jobs and industry and technologies of tomorrow, employing people and expanding the tax base, will be remembered for something mighty important, because that's what fuels everything else in our society."

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