The most listened to, relevant organization in Annapolis,bar none.
Robert L. Ehrlich - Governor, State of Maryland

"Jobs: The True Measure of Maryland's Prosperity"
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In the years since Don and I worked on the Maryland Economic Growth Coalition Project (i.e. the Lucier-Moyer Study*), Don told me something interesting about Louisiana and Nevada. Louisiana went through a great deal of work just to develop an economic development plan that would get the state moving better than it was. There was a force within the state known as New Orleans, a city that had a lot of clout. The whole economic development plan was done. Then it was suggested that maybe a better way to get this money would be to open up Louisiana for gambling. The study was set aside, gambling was going to be the thing to do that would solve all their problems.

At the same time, Don was working for the state of Nevada as a consultant. Nevada was trying to attract business and not just in gambling. The first news was when Atlantic City came into gambling. Of course, gambling is everywhere now. So Las Vegas said, we've got to depend on business for other revenue. We've got to bring business here. And they are adopting a broad scale plan to diversify because they know gambling can't support them in the way that it had in the past. Isn't that strange? What do you think the guys from Louisiana are doing?

There's a commonality to the states who win. Winning states have a growth culture. In the Sun Belt states, the folks down there never have really felt that the government was the answer to supporting the economy They always felt, we have to attract business. They believed it. The people who were winners had a grand plan.

I live in Florida. It doesn't make any difference who gets elected Governor, Republican or Democrat. Guess what isn't political? The economic development plan. We have a governor named Giles, second term, who had been a threeterm congressman and had learned how to spend. In his first term, Giles cut the executive staff sharply Why? Because he said, if we put in a state income tax, we're in trouble. We have no state income tax in Florida: There would be a lot fewer people who would live in Florida if there was one. In Florida, too, there is no state inheritance tax. Guess where rich Puerto Ricans go to die? Florida. Puerto Rico has one of the most punitive inheritance taxes anywhere.

The third thing that these states have is leadership. Somewhere through the years there was government leadership and private sector leadership that grew. They knew what they had to do or undo to stay competitive, and they didn't just accept what were yesterday's sets of measurements or benchmarks. They would constantly find out what is it going to take for us to beat the other guy because we're in a competition for jobs?

Let's talk about a turnaround. In 1977, Pete DuPont became governor of Delaware. A state, at that time, rated as the number one loser in economic development in the East. A graph of the state income tax was almost a straight line going up. Any time they wanted more money, they would raise the tax. Every time they raised prices (taxes) they lost some customers. They never could increase revenue from raising the prices.

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