From Deseret News archives:
Matheson touts economic plan
Some lines here please. Some lines in here
Matheson, the Democrat who is running against Republican Jon Huntsman Jr. this year, released a nine-point economic development plan Friday. The whole 23-page document can be viewed on his Web site: www.mathesonforgovernor.com.
At a news conference in the Myriad Genetics research facility at the University of Utah's Research Park, Matheson said economic development is tied at the hip to public and higher education: You can't have one without the other.
"Innovation, knowledge (and job creation) are connected more than people think," said Matheson, dean of the U.'s law school.
Matheson places education first in the scheme of things, economic development a close second.
Huntsman turns the pair around, saying you can't have a good public education system without the economic development needed to provide adequate education tax dollars. Huntsman released his lengthy economic development plan weeks ago. His plan is at: www.votehuntsman.com.
Utah is losing the economic development fight, said Matheson.
In 1981, Utah's average wage was 96 percent of the national average. Today it is only 80 percent.
"We will not succeed as a state if we go after low-wage jobs," he added.
Matheson rarely gives simple solutions to problems and his economic development plan is complex and multi-faceted. "You need a short-term, mid-term and long-term plan to develop your economy and jobs." He believes he has that.
"A lot of hard work and thinking have gone into this," he said.
Give a candidate a problem and he usually says he can fix it. But Matheson said economic development really is something a governor can have an impact on.
Yes, a plan and general tax dollars thrown at tourism or venture capital or some other specific program is important.
But Matheson says any successful business-development/jobs plan must be accompanied by a workforce receiving a quality education, by good roads, adequate water, business-friendly regulation and tax structure, and so on.
Several times Matheson said that the state — especially in tourism development — must have a "mechanism" to ensure adequate funding.
But he stopped short of saying he'd support any kind of tax hike, fee or other revenue-producer directly tied to an economic development activity, such as a state hotel room tax with proceeds going to tourism promotion.
Still, various studies have shown "that $1 spent on tourism" promotion by a state or county sees a return of eight dollars, he said.
