The jobs search
Published June 11, 2014
Editorial by Greensboro News-Record, June 11, 2014.
What most North Carolina residents don’t know about economic development and recruitment is ... just about everything.
At the state level, the process is secretive until, for example, the governor announces that Cisco will expand its Research Triangle Park workforce by 550 — in return for Job Development Investment Grant awards from the state worth up to $12.9 million over 12 years.
Also taking part in this June 6 announcement was Sharon Decker, secretary of the N.C. Department of Commerce, the state’s leading job-recruitment agency. For now.
It’s strange timing, given the Cisco announcement, that the legislature is nearing enactment of a plan initiated by Gov. Pat McCrory to transfer job-recruitment responsibility from Commerce to a new private agency called the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina. The governor says this will streamline efforts to attract new businesses, but it’s hard to make a convincing case when recruitment and negotiations for incentives are confidential. Only later are records made public, even though public money is a part of the process from start to finish.
The new entity, also to be funded with tax dollars, doesn’t need to operate more privately than that. All expenses and the details of all deals should be part of the public record.
There’s another reason for transparency: avoiding conflicts of interest. Private directors could have a personal financial interest in business recruitment. Legislation should require compliance with state ethics and disclosure rules.
The question of effectiveness also prompts disagreements.
Former Commerce Secretary Jim Fain urges caution. “This is a very audacious undertaking,” he told the News & Record’s Richard M. Barron. “It’s not without its risk, loss of momentum and disruption in our process.”
But John Lassiter, picked by McCrory to lead the transition, said North Carolina is behind: “We have a system that currently is noncompetitive against other states around the country.”
Yet a report issued last month about Ohio’s private recruitment agency noted high salaries, exaggerated job claims and a history of funneling money to companies with political connections.
The North Carolina plan creates eight zones across the state where the new agency can offer a variety of resources to companies interested in a location. The idea is to work at the speed of business, not government.
Maybe that will prove advantageous. But it’s surprising to hear on the one hand that a new structure is essential to catch up to the competition and on the other hand to celebrate the commitment of 550 new jobs.
Maybe the problem has been North Carolina’s failure to win a really big prize, such as a Toyota automaker or Boeing aircraft manufacturer. Projects of that magnitude require effective recruiting and a lot more in incentives than North Carolina has ever been willing to pay — at least as far as we know.
When those opportunities come along, one principle should guide the process: doing what’s in the public’s best interest.
