If the vociferously “pro-business” Ehrlich administration had a strong suit, it was considered to be economic development, an area that was little emphasized during the O?Malley campaign. But even in this field where some Democrats felt Gov. Robert Ehrlich?s secretary of economic and business development should be kept on, the O?Malley transition work group found a lot of work needed to be done.
“There wasn?t a real strategic plan for DBED,” said Harbor Bank President and CEO Joseph Haskins, who serves as a co-chair of the work group. The group said the department needed a series of strategies “to ensure Maryland?s status as a national leader in technology, life sciences, defense and entrepreneurship” and found that economic research capabilities required strengthening.
Haskins said his group of more than 100 people also found a lack of adequate funding for financing programs. The Sunny Day fund “has not been funded for several years,” and other programs had their budgets cut. Besides fully funding the financing programs, the work group report said, the application process for the funding had to be “simplified and streamlined.”
“We found a lot of awkwardness in the structure” of DBED, Haskins said. The group cited a confusing mix of small business advocacy programs.
Wachovia Bank Vice President Veronica Cool, the group?s other co-chair, said, “It doesn?t seem like there has really been any focus on small business.”
In promoting international business, the committee believed the division could do a lot better. “There are billions of dollars in infrastructure needs to be met in developing countries like India and China within the next decade, but Maryland companies are not positioned to develop and manage such projects,” the report stated.
The transition team also wanted to see more movies made in Maryland.
“Just a few years ago Maryland was one of the top five states in the country for film production,” the report says. “Today it has fallen drastically due to the number of other states who offer lucrative incentive packages. ? The funding of the film incentive program must be substantially increased; otherwise we stand to lose this important industry.”
The committee also said the state needed to work hard to capitalize on the Base Realignment and Closure process, which will bring as many as 60,000 federal and military contracting jobs to Maryland in one of the clear successes of the Ehrlich years.
The O?Malley administration has already initiated legislation implementing the transition work group?s recommendation to “create an inter-agency senior level task force chaired by the lieutenant governor.”
