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BATON ROUGE -- Of all the policy topics the gubernatorial candidates face in this campaign, none is more encompassing than the future of economic development in Louisiana.
Taxes, roads, education, job training, insurance and even crime intersect in shaping the dynamic forces of a state economy.
Adding to the complexity is that each region of the state faces distinct challenges. New Orleans is still slowly recovering from Hurricane Katrina, southern Louisiana has plenty of blue-collar jobs but not enough workers, Monroe is desperate for new business and Shreveport is riding a gravy train of private and public ventures.
"The new governor is going to have to work hard at it. He's not going to be able just to sit in the mansion and let his minions do it," Louisiana economist Loren Scott said. "It's not going to be a cookie-cutter policy that will treat all areas of the state the same."
The number of 19-year-olds entering the workplace is declining, while the population age 60 and older is increasing, a trend that contributes to what Scott calls a "classic supply problem" in the labor market that is exacerbated by demand for construction workers after Katrina.
When earlier this year Gov. Kathleen Blanco was recruiting a German company to build a giant steel mill in St. James Parish, Louisiana shipyard owner Boysie Bollinger was admonishing state officials not to go overboard creating new jobs, because his and other companies were having trouble finding employees.
As suggested by the non-partisan Council for a Better Louisiana, the challenge of the next administration will be to prepare Louisiana youth and workers to meet the demand while encouraging high-salaried job growth in so-called knowledge-based industries of the 21st century, such as computer, medical and bio-technology fields.
On this perspective, the four major candidates for governor appear to agree in general. While their policy directions are aimed in that direction, there are differences between them worth noting. And although the candidates have sometimes been criticized for being vague on the issues, each has at least some very specific ideas about economic development.
Bobby Jindal
The Republican congressman offers a 24-point plan for economic development that covers improvements ranging from education to infrastructure.
Looking at the cost of doing business, Jindal would target tax reductions and incentives, regulatory red tape and a better and more diversely trained labor pool. Several of his points focus on roads, including a plan to redirect about $450 million in annual transportation-related tax revenue from the general fund to road projects.
Like the other candidates, Jindal often repeats his pledge to eliminate state taxes on corporate debt and the purchase of machinery, which inhibit business expansions. But these taxes are nearly phased out anyway thanks to an initiative by Gov. Kathleen Blanco in her first year in office.
Jindal's "Day One Guarantee" is similar to a program started for teachers when he was head of the University of Louisiana System. It would promise a business free retraining for any graduate of a Louisiana school unable to meet the needs of the job on the first day. He would give the state's community and technical college system the primary responsibility for worker training, drawing some programs from other state agencies.
Perhaps his most challenging proposal is a plan to steer certain areas of the state, and the higher education institutions in them, toward a focus on specific industry sectors. He would build bigger research programs, such as chemical engineering at Louisiana State University, computer science at University of Louisiana-Lafayette and micro-manufacturing at Louisiana Tech.
While elements of this idea are already in place in Louisiana, Jindal would allocate resources and research incentives to further the trend. In this vein, a nationally designated cancer research center is on his agenda, an initiative that has not received much attention during the campaign but easily stands out as a signature proposal in his plan.
John Georges
The New Orleans area businessman offers a 17-point plan that also covers a range of solutions.
He would focus state resources on development of eight economic development regions, accompanied by university specialization, such as an environmental sciences center at Nicholls State University.
Georges, a non-party candidate, would make the lieutenant governor the business sales representative for Louisiana, an enhanced role on top of the current duties of overseeing the state's tourism and recreation programs.
His tax-related initiatives would create incentives for technology companies and eliminate the sales taxes that businesses pay on utilities. Georges would expand the Business Development Incubator program, which now has 25 locations in the state, to every parish. He would also eliminate income taxes for people 65 and older.
Of Georges' proposals, he has perhaps been most vocal about the need to complete Interstate 49 north of Shreveport, a project supported by all the candidates that has, in fact, already been set in motion. Georges would offer special incentives to companies that locate along the overall I-49 corridor.
He is open to the idea of toll roads, including an interstate highway loop around Baton Rouge.
The state's multiple port authorities, currently operating independently of one another, would consolidate under a unified system, which Georges says will maximize efficiency and improve safety of cargo.
Georges would "bring to completion" the long-discussed initiative of placing Louis Armstrong International Airport under a regional authority and promote it as a hub for major airlines. The airport currently is owned and operated by the city of New Orleans.
"The world's economy is changing and so must Louisiana's economic development efforts," Georges' plan says. "It is essential that Louisiana create a stable, business-friendly climate in the global economy."
Foster Campbell
The economic development plan of the Democratic public service commissioner is inseparable from his centerpiece proposal of eliminating income taxes for individuals and corporations, an overall cut of about $3.1 billion annually.
He would replace the state revenue by creating a controversial new 6 percent fee on oil and gas processing, refining and distribution in Louisiana that would generate $5.5 billion, with the extra revenue paying for roads, health care and education improvements.
Campbell says the current state revenue system for energy products is based on a 1920s model of charging a severance tax on oil and gas produced in the state. But the bulk of Louisiana's business activity for the products is in refining and pipeline distribution, Campbell says. He would eliminate the severance tax.
He argues that refineries and pipeline companies will not flee Louisiana due to the tax because other states do not want the industry.
While every candidate has proposed initiatives that would require hard work and political persuasion to make them happen, Campbell's refinery fee stands out as a proposal that already has an organized opposition and its chances of passage are far from sure. The refinery industry and other critics say it would place too much burden on a single type of business and would destabilize state finances by putting too many of the state's revenue eggs in one basket.
Campbell says the elimination of the income tax would put Louisiana on par with Texas, Tennessee and other states that have shown promising business growth and an influx of people in recent years.
He also picks up on the regional development theme. In New Orleans he would focus on health-care infrastructure, NASA contracts for the Mars mission and port improvements. In Baton Rouge and Shreveport he would emphasize biomedical research. He would build research capacity around nanoparticle technology at Louisiana Tech and pursue an auto manufacturing center for Northeast Louisiana.
Walter Boasso
In his talking points and debates, the businessman and Democratic state senator has targeted the rising costs of insurance at the top of his agenda for assisting Louisiana businesses.
Among his proposals is a tax credit to offset higher premiums. He would try to pass laws preventing insurers from cherry picking the best customers and he would increase penalties and punitive damages on insurance companies that act in bad faith.
Boasso would create the Office of Insurer Conduct, which would investigate rate increase requests and alleged misconduct on the part of insurance companies.
He would encourage entrepreneurs by pushing for incentives such as tax exemptions for small businesses.
On the job-training front, Boasso would create more options for high school students to enter career and technical academies. Middle schools would prepare their students to better understand their career options.
Louisiana's community and technical college system would be modeled on the program of North Carolina, which Boasso says does a better job tying high schools to colleges and customizing job training programs for relocating and existing businesses.
A new program, Operation Jumpstart, would offer a second-chance educational opportunity for troubled students who have fallen out of the education system.
Under Boasso, universities would work in partnership with the private sector, particularly in the health care arena.
"We have to prepare and enable our students to do the high skill jobs of the 21st century," Boasso's platform says. "Unless our working families have the opportunity to prosper and are given the tools to compete globally, there is no way for our state to make real progress."
Robert Travis Scott can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com or (225) 342-4197.