[T]he five leading candidates for governor met for the first time together on stage Monday, “pitching” their ideas to a group of entrepreneurs on how to grow the next Ben & Jerry’s or IBM.
The five — three Democrats and two Republicans — praised the state’s history of business self-starters. They said recruiting and keeping the next generation would require improvements in Internet service, greater access to investment funds, strong mentors and building more affordable housing.
The candidates were cordial, frequently agreeing with one another and stuck to many of their campaign themes at the event, which was hosted by Comcast and Fresh Tracks Capital, a Vermont company that invests in small businesses.
The only areas of disagreement were over whether a law passed by the Legislature this year designed to promote school consolidation should be repealed and whether it was realistic to have high-speed Internet services reach the “last mile.”
The focus of the event, Gov Pitch 2016, was to find out how the contenders, if elected, would help entrepreneurs. In August, Fresh Track’s co-founder Cairn Cross led a group of 40 venture capitalists and business owners on a four-day motorcycle tour to eight Vermont communities where they met with budding business people who gave their “pitch” to the group for feedback and prizes.
At the Monday event, which included an eight-minute film produced by Comcast with highlights from the motorcycle tour, the candidates were invited to give a three-minute “pitch” on boosting entrepreneurship. The forum was held at the Flynn Space in Burlington and drew a crowd of nearly 100. Tickets were $15 and all the proceeds went to the United Way. Cross noted the average person can speak 150 words a minute, making the pitch a tight 450 words.
“I hope you’ve practiced,” Cross said. (All the speakers finished on time.) The candidates also answered written questions from the audience after they all completed their “pitch.”
Democrat Sue Minter, the former transportation secretary, stressed the importance of building strong communities for new businesses to succeed, such as the makers of Heady Topper beer in Waterbury. Minter was a state representative in Waterbury and frequently touted her role leading the state recovery efforts after Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, which devastated many communities, including Waterbury.
“It wasn’t just the beer, it was the community,” she said of The Alchemist Brewery’s success. Like others, she spoke of the need for strong mentorship programs and more venture capital for entrepreneurs to make “small and nimble” Vermont the “Innovation State.”
Former state Sen. Matt Dunne, also a Democrat, touted his own entrepreneurial experience with a computer software company, as well as his current work at search engine Google, which he said gave him a leg up understanding how to expand and improve Internet service in Vermont. Like several others, he said access to more investment capital was crucial.
“It’s capital, people, infrastructure and synergy,” Dunne said.
Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, who co-owns a construction company, stressed his theme of “affordability,” particularly slowing the growth of government. He also said businesses needed more regulatory certainty to come to Vermont and to stay. He said the business climate was hurt by the discussion in recent years on whether to change the health care system and a debate over whether to tax certain Internet “cloud” products.
“The duration of the debate went on far too long” on Gov. Shumlin’s hope to overhaul the health care system, Scott said. On the “cloud” tax, Scott said the Legislature “sent the wrong message.” Scott rode on the August motorcycle tour for a day.
Republican Bruce Lisman, a former Wall Street executive, said higher education was crucial because many of the entrepreneurs come from there. He said the key was to find “the gazelles,” the fast-growing companies and to offer them help before they leave. He also said there should be more tax credits for certain kinds of investments.
“What we are asking small businesses is to do better, but we offer them no insight or help,” Lisman said. “The threats to our economy have never been greater, the penalty for inaction has never been larger and the rewards for success never greater.”
House Speaker Shap Smith, a Democrat, ticked off legislation he “pushed through” that expanded investment capital and stressed the importance of internship programs to keep graduates in Vermont. He said that, if elected, he would hire an advocate for small businesses and promised to meet four times a year with a group of entrepreneurs. He said the success of the next generation begins in the schools.
“When I look at my kid’s classrooms, I see opportunity, I see kids in that school that are jazzed about the future,” said Smith, whose children are in fifth- and eighth-grades. Noting its entrepreneurial history, he said Vermont has “reinvented itself over and over.”
Four of the five candidates expressed strong concerns about the new education law passed this spring, Act 46, and called for changes to be made. Of those four, only Lisman called for an outright repeal. The others said the Legislature needed to review the law and make changes when they return to the Statehouse in January. Smith gave a vigorous defense and said the law created a better chance for all students to have the same educational opportunities.
Scott summed up the view of the dissenters on Act 46 when he said: “It’s created a lot of consternation and confusion.” Minter said it was “going too quickly.” The candidates raised concerns the legislation would not provide communities enough time to consolidate or that they would not achieve savings. They also pointed to confusion over whether communities would be allowed to continue school choice if they merge with another district.
“It should be dumped and start again,” said Lisman.
The candidates largely agreed on the need for better Internet service in many areas where it already exists and said the state could issue bonds to help companies expand into less populated, underserved areas. Lisman noted the technology changes quickly, making investment difficult and perhaps unnecessary, and he and Scott said the cost to serve those last few homes was sometimes too unprofitable to pursue.
While the three Democrats likened high-speed Internet service to electricity and telephone — which they said required subsidies in order to be extended to every home – Scott said state leaders had too often overpromised and that “last-mile service is not practical at this time.”
Asked to name their favorite entrepreneurial success story, some of the candidates stuck close to home: Smith picked Concept2, a Morrisville company that makes rowing equipment; Minter mentioned Ben & Jerry’s, which started in Burlington but has a popular tourist site in Waterbury; Lisman pointed to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ founder Robert Stiller, Dunne praised Dealer.com and Scott said IBM (since sold to GlobalFoundries).
