BRATTLEBORO — While the four other Democratic candidates for governor cite their Statehouse experience, Deborah L. “Deb” Markowitz said she offers something different.
“Of all the candidates, I'm the only one who is not a Statehouse insider,” said Markowitz, 48, of Montpelier, who is running what she describes as “a strong statewide campaign” - complete with a campaign field office in Brattleboro - on the premise that her experience in running a high-profile state agency makes her better suited to become the state's chief executive.
Yet Markowitz, an attorney who has served as Secretary of State since unseating a two-term incumbent 12 years ago in her first run for elective office, said her role in state government gives her background that makes her uniquely attentive to different regions of the states and their particular challenges and needs.
The Secretary of State's office manages state election, voter registration and campaign-finance policy, state records and archives, open meeting and public records access, registration of corporations, marriage and regulation for 44 occupations and professions.
In 2008, with the Small Business Administration and the Small Business Development Corporation, Markowitz created Community Business Connections, an outreach initiative designed to offer information to people looking to start or expand a business, bringing in local officials, town libraries and the business community.
She has also proposed a series of measures designed to speak to the challenges of town government, including a series of state-government operated money-market funds that can offer flexibility and better return on investment for municipal accounts.
Jobs at the center
Like her other rivals in Tuesday's primary election, Markowitz has made jobs and the economy the center of her candidacy, and she proposes a comprehensive strategy that tackles business credit issues, transportation issues, and cutting regulatory red tape.
She said she has developed a “specific and comprehensive” plan that is available on her website (www.debforvermont.com), a four-month process that drew the participation of business leaders, economists, and academics statewide.
“My economic plan is sensitive to regional differences,” she said, citing the Windham County region's need to prepare its economy for the closing of the Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee power plant in Vernon, and the state's need to rely on other sources of power without VY in the picture.
Markowitz proposes seeking federal money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to create incubator spaces in redeveloped industrial buildings in the county to attract manufacturers and innovators of clean, alternative-energy technology.
Like the other candidates, Markowitz also sees broadband and cell-phone coverage statewide as essential to economic success and says she recognizes Windham County's vulnerabilities in that infrastructure arena.
“Frankly, no part of any town or county is going to be much of a success going into the future without it,” said Markowitz, whose campaign platform also centers on improvements in education, state support of farmers, universal health-care coverage, long-term care of senior citizens and commitment to veterans' issues.
'Not out of political expediency'
The political landscape has changed in the months since Markowitz became one of the first Democrats to announce her candidacy in February 2009.
When Gov. Jim Douglas announced his intention not to seek re-election in August 2009, she said her primary opponents saw the race against Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, the presumptive Republican nominee, as a more viable political opportunity.
Markowitz said she entered the race against Douglas fully prepared to run, knowing she could count on a base of support statewide. “I had the trust of local business owners and officials,” she said.
And, she added, “I was in it before it was the easy race.”
“I decided to run for governor not out of political expediency,” Markowitz continued. “I see a problem, I try to fix it. That's why I originally ran for Secretary of State.”