“The next governor is going to be confronted with massive budget shortfalls, so I have not and will not make any promises to any group about funding levels. That said, I recognize the important work of the IF&W and how that work benefits the general public.

“I don’t believe in across-the-board cuts and I have said many times in this campaign that I want to invest in Maine’s competitive advantages. Our natural environment and our fish and wildlife are key assets for our state, and we must invest in them to protect our quality of life and to attract sportsmen and other visitors.

“So while I cannot in good conscience commit to any specific level or minimum amount of funding, I can assure you that I intend to spend our hard-earned tax dollars strategically to adequately fund those departments and programs that enhance Maine’s competitive advantages and to cut programs that neither operate efficiently nor provide an adequate return to Maine people,” concluded Cutler.

MAY 20, 2010
CONTACT: TED O’MEARA
207.699.4401
ted@cutler2010.com

PORTLAND, Maine – Independent candidate Eliot Cutler said today that a strong and healthy tourism industry depends on ample, consistent and sustained support for the Maine “brand.” He pledged that as governor he will take the politics out of funding for tourism promotion and will give the industry the respect that its members deserve for all that they contribute to Maine’s economy and quality of life.

“We need to stop taking tourism for granted,” Cutler said while attending the 89th Annual Meeting & Awards Luncheon of the Maine Tourism Association in Northport. “People come to Maine because of our natural beauty, our distinctive and welcoming communities and our abundant recreational and cultural opportunities. That’s our brand. It is our greatest asset, and we must protect it, invest in it and promote it.”

Cutler said Maine does not spend enough to promote itself as a tourist destination, that Maine does not devote enough attention to the development of a four-season recreation and tourism industry and that tax revenue set aside for tourism promotion too often has been threatened or raided in order to fund other programs.

“I want Maine people to know that in my administration we will find the money to adequately promote Maine and we will protect those funds from the politics of the moment,” Cutler said. “Every dollar we spend promoting Maine yields many additional dollars in visitor spending. Tourism promotion is a way to invest in Maine’s competitive advantages, and promoting our brand and Maine’s reputation for quality will benefit the entire Maine economy and help to create jobs.”

Cutler also said that his three-point plan to lower electricity costs, lower health care costs, and lower the cost of government will help all Maine businesses grow and succeed, including the thousands of small businesses that make up Maine’s tourism and recreation industry.

During the course of my campaign, I have spoken with scores of owners of large and small Maine businesses all across our state.  I have asked each of them, what do we need to do in Maine to increase economic activity?  What is keeping you from expanding your business?  Not one of them has pointed to taxes as Maine’s biggest problem.  Every one of them, on the other hand, has said that the costs of energy and health care and the cost, quality and attitude of state services are the big problems.  And other recent surveys confirm that.

The single biggest challenge that we face today is how to lower those costs of living and doing business in Maine, and here is My Plan to do that. That is the only way we are going to get companies to invest here and to create the jobs, incomes and opportunities that we so desperately need.

As we grapple with chronic budget shortfalls, push to lower our costs and strive to make needed investments in Maine’s competitive advantages, we invariably will encounter tax-related issues that demand a responsible answer.

For example, what if we raised the gas tax by a few pennies a gallon so that we could fix our roads and bridges, but at the same time we eliminated the requirement for annual vehicle safety inspections?  Drivers’ savings from not having to pay for inspections and fewer car repairs (because our roads would be in better shape) would dwarf the cost of a slight increase in the gasoline tax.

Or what if we added a penny to the meals and lodging tax and dedicated all the increased revenue to promoting and supporting tourism, which is Maine’s largest industry.  We know that every dollar spent on promotion generates many times that for Maine businesses and increased tax revenue for the state.

Once we put in place a strategy to lower our costs, and once we get Maine growing and moving forward again, we will need to take a close look at opportunities for tax reform and change.  We will need to determine whether our estate and capital gains taxes are driving people and their assets out of Maine.  We will need to decide whether the local property tax is the right funding source for supporting K-12 education, or whether we need to examine alternatives.  And we will need to figure out ways to maximize the percentage of their incomes that Maine people can keep for themselves.

I will not make promises that I am not certain that I can keep, and so I am not going to sign any blanket pledge about taxes.   The job of governing Maine is more complex than that and demands honest leadership.

http://www.wgme.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wgme_vid_3352.shtml

APRIL 15, 2010
CONTACT: TED O’MEARA
207.699.4401
ted@cutler2010.com

RELEASE: INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR ELIOT CUTLER PROPOSES “TAXPAYER SATISFACTION SURVEY”

PORTLAND, Maine – Independent candidate Eliot Cutler said today that as governor he will institute a “taxpayer satisfaction survey” that Maine taxpayers can complete when they fill out their income tax forms.

“For too long, April 15 has been a one-way street,” Cutler said. “I think it’s time that state government also asked the people who are footing the bill for state programs and services what they think about the way their money is being spent.”

Cutler has stated repeatedly that state government is “too remote, too big, too unfriendly and too expensive.” In announcing his candidacy in December he went on to say: “We pay for too many things that we don’t need or can’t afford, and we pay too much to deliver what we do need. Customer service isn’t always what it should be, either. We need to make fundamental changes, and we need to cut our costs.”

Cutler said his administration will create a simple one-page survey that can be completed online or on paper and returned with a Maine filer’s income tax return. The survey will ask how taxpayers perceive the value of state programs and services, their thoughts on the way state dollars are allocated and spent, and what their top priorities are for state spending.

In addition, the proposed survey asks taxpayers to rate the quality of service they have received from state agencies in the past year and gives them an opportunity to offer general comments about how their tax dollars are being spent and ways to improve state services.

“Successful companies survey their customers regularly because they want to continually improve their products, programs and customer service, “ Cutler said. “That’s a best practice state government can learn from as well. Every year we ask working Maine families to part with their hard earned dollars to support state government; I think it’s only right that we also ask them how we are doing.”

Cutler said that survey results would not be used to dictate state spending, but that the information gleaned from the surveys would help to inform the budget process. He envisions contracting with a Maine research firm through a competitive bidding process to develop the survey and compile the results.

“The relationship between Maine taxpayers and their government is broken,” Cutler said. “I believe that a taxpayer satisfaction survey is an important gesture in restoring that relationship.”

While working at the White House, Eliot was responsible for approving and cutting programs that represented a significant portion of the federal budget.

Contrary to a candidate like Eliot Cutler who – to his credit – has been campaigning on telling the truth about the state’s need to swallow some bitter pills since the beginning (it was the first thing he said to me when I met him the first time), Rowe’s cigarette tax seems like amateur hour.

You can read the complete article here.

MARCH 26, 2010
CONTACT: TED O’MEARA
207.699.4401
ted@cutler2010.com

CUTLER CALLS FOR SYSTEM-WIDE APPROACH TO UNIVERSITY OF MAINE PRIORITIES AND PROGRAM CUTS

PORTLAND, Maine – Independent candidate for Governor Eliot Cutler today praised University of Maine President Robert Kennedy and other university campus presidents for taking a hard look at budgets, programs and priorities. At the same, however, he questioned why such reviews are not being conducted on a coordinated, system-wide basis.

“Establishing priorities and making tough choices is absolutely the right thing, but it makes no sense to be doing this on a campus-by-campus basis,” Cutler said. “The entire university system should be doing this together. This is a prime example of why our entire education system in Maine has become so expensive and fragmented.”

Cutler was reacting to a recently announced proposal by the University of Maine to cut more than $12.2 million by eliminating faculty positions and reducing the number of majors and master’s degrees.

Cutler, who has made education reform a top priority in his campaign, served as chair of the board of visitors of the Muskie School of Public Service for ten years until stepping down last year. His late father, Dr. Lawrence Cutler of Bangor, was a longtime member and chair of the University Maine board of trustees.

“We are a state of just 1.3 million people with limited financial resources. We simply can’t afford for every campus to operate in its own silo,” Cutler said. “The University of Maine, as our land grant institution, has a special mission in our state, and each of the other campuses also have their strengths. Now is the time to take a comprehensive look at what we need, what we can afford, and which campus is best suited to offer particular programs.”

Cutler also has called for a merger of the university and community college systems into one system of higher education in which students can move seamlessly from the associate degree programs to a four–year degree to graduate studies.

“It’s time to organize higher education around the needs of students, taxpayers and 21st century employers,” said Cutler. “That is one of the best ways for us to stimulate economic activity and create jobs.”

Three of them — former Democrats Eliot Cutler and Tim Cahill and former Republican Lincoln Chafee — are mounting serious third-party bids for governor in Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, respectively. All three come from established political backgrounds. Cutler worked in Democratic circles for years, including a stint at the Office of Management and Budget under President Carter. Chafee is part of a pedigreed political family. And Cahill has served as state treasurer since 2003.

You can read the complete article here with mention of Eliot in yellow.