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Matt Dunne: No. 1 issue is jobs

February 15, 2010

By CHRIS GAROFOLO

Monday February 15, 2010

BRATTLEBORO -- Positioning himself as Vermont's "chief economic evangelist," Democratic gubernatorial candidate Matt Dunne was in Windham County on Friday stumping for a state business development plan to include greater broadband access and renewable energy sources leading to greater job growth.

"The No. 1 issue in this state, as it is across the country, is job creation," he said. "I believe we have an incredible opportunity in this state to leapfrog and be a state of innovation."

Dunne visited with local business leaders in Brattleboro on Friday at the Vermont Agricultural Business Education Center.

In an interview with the Reformer, he criticized the current administration for its frequent declarations that Vermont is anti-business.

"I've been in business a long time, and you do not promote a product by talking badly about it, much less spending all your time talking badly about it," he said.

As both a lawmaker and businessman, Dunne said he made the case that Vermont is ready for new growth, but the state cannot turn an economic corner without a proper development plan that includes building the necessary infrastructure and supporting the next generation of companies.

"It is a great state to do business, but we also need to be delivering the infrastructure to allow those businesses to grow and thrive," he said. "We need to bring fiber-optical speed Internet to the last mile of every community in the state of Vermont. ... Today if you don't have fiber-optical speed broadband to the barn and the garage, you do not have those innovative start-up companies."

In addition, Dunne is campaigning for greater investments in higher education in order to bring ideas from the classroom to the global marketplace. Vermont's college students carry the highest debt load in the country after graduation, and the state is at the bottom in per-capita spending for higher education, he added.

"That's not the right direction for our state to succeed economically and it doesn't do right by the next generation of Vermonters," he said. "It is critical for businesses to be able to have those resources to build their companies and for many Vermonters who do investments, to look at Vermont first."

While in the county, he also made his position on the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, after the Vernon facility has recently made headlines for misstatements to state regulators and tritium leaks at the site.

"I believe that we need to have, whether by resolution or executive order, a statement from the state government that says that we will be decommissioning as planned in 2012," he said. "I don't know what more information they would need other than the fact that Entergy [who owns and operates the plant] has lied to regulators and has now caused a safety risk by leaking tritium into the ground around the plant."

According to Dunne, the Agency of Natural Resources should get more involved because this has become an environmental issue.

"There is a real concern about the safety of drinking water moving forward in this area, as well as potential damage to the entire Connecticut River basin south of Vermont," said Dunne. For the safety of the residents, Vermont Yankee should cease operations immediately, he added.

The state needs to move into a post-Vermont Yankee era by holding Entergy accountable and start the process of transforming jobs for employees at the plant.

"We cannot assure all the workers at VY will have jobs, I think that's just a reality we have to grapple with," he said, but Vermont needs to take steps now to clarify an appropriate time for transition and examining how many employment opportunities are available during the decommissioning process.

"And the other [issue] is we need to start now in replacing that energy with in-state renewable energy that can promote jobs," he added.

Dunne proposes the state begin financing and constructing two 75-megawatt facilities, one in Windham County to take advantage of Vermont Yankee's existing infrastructure. He is also suggesting a second site near Island Pond in the Northeast Kingdom since there is already a residing station there as well.

"That's not a thing that will happen overnight ... we need to get moving on that quickly."

Dunne, who currently lives in Hartland, works in community affairs with Google from a White River Junction office. He has served in the Vermont House for seven years, with an additional four in the state Senate.

He is one of five Democratic candidates for governor after Republican Gov. James Douglas decided not to seek re-election in August.

State Sens. Susan Bartlett, D-Lamoille, Doug Racine, D-Chittenden, and President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, have also announced their candidacy, as well as Secretary of State Deb Markowitz of Montpelier.

Essex Junction Republican Brian Dubie, currently serving his fourth term as lieutenant governor, is the front-runner in the GOP primary.

For more information: http://www.reformer.com/localnews/ci_14402798