Boston Globe
May 9, 2003

Romney applauds Fuji deal

By Scott Bernard Nelson and Raphael Lewis

Governor Mitt Romney, who campaigned on a platform that he would act as the state's ''top salesman'' to stimulate the economy, yesterday cited Fuji Photo Film USA Inc.'s decision to expand its facility at Hanscom Air Force Base as a sign his business development plan is working.

In a morning speech to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Romney said his plan -- which he called TOP, for ''Tapping Our Potential'' -- and feverish back-room lobbying by his administration in recent weeks led Fuji to add 60,000 square feet to its Hanscom facility and bring at least 90 jobs to the state.

''It's turning around soon; things are looking better,'' Romney said of the state's economy, eliciting a few chuckles from skeptical business leaders. ''Now is the time to get out there to purchase that additional equipment, purchase that software.''

Romney's plan contained few new elements, but brought together several themes he has repeated since last year's gubernatorial campaign: hold business taxes down; ease the permitting processes for new home building and relocating businesses; entice firms to move here; better integrate colleges and businesses; attract underutilized federal grant and matching dollars through guidance to low-income communities; and reduce the number of government agencies.

Democratic leaders responded that the governor's plan offered little new information and that the Fuji expansion was in the works even before Romney took office.

''It sounds like warmed-over, trickle-down economics to me,'' said Philip Johnston, chairman of the state Democratic Party.

Michael Widmer, president of the nonprofit Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, was more upbeat about the governor's plan, but said it still lacked the kind of specifics that business leaders are hoping to see before they invest in any big, new initiatives.''It's a sound conceptual framework, but the key for the administration is to develop concrete proposals to implement the principles,'' Widmer said after the breakfast.

''I think the test here will be whether they can develop many more concrete proposals to implement the principles.''

Romney spokeswoman Shawn Feddeman said the governor remains committed to improving the state's economy, but conceded that Romney's work in closing the state's $3 billion budget gap has put a crimp in his plans to act as the state's top salesman, flying around the nation to persuade top CEOs to relocate their businesses to Massachusetts. She said Romney and Pozen played integral roles in the Fuji expansion, as well as the recent decision by 3Com to move its senior management from Silicon Valley to Marlborough.

Fuji's decision to expand at Hanscom could have ramifications beyond gubernatorial politics. Earlier this month, Romney joined Democratic US Senator Edward M. Kennedy in agreeing that the two major parties will work together to keep the Bedford air base off the chopping block when the federal government cuts the number of military bases in 2005.

The base is the Air Force's command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, and reconnaissance headquarters, essentially centralizing its research and development functions. More than 9,000 people work at the base, and some estimates say as many as 26,000 jobs depend on the facility.

Robert Pozen, Romney's top economic adviser, said yesterday that the key to saving Hanscom is attracting the other military services to do similar work in Massachusetts. First, he said, the base needed more space.

Besides putting Fuji tax credits on the fast track, Pozen said the Romney administration required Bedford, Billerica, and Burlington to work together to develop a 440-acre parcel adjoining the company's facility. That will create room for other defense contractors and military services to expand at the site.

''The calls I got personally from the Fuji people suggested very strongly that they wouldn't be expanding in Massachusetts if they didn't get the tax credits they wanted,'' Pozen said. ''We were able to solve their problem and solve it in a way that created this additional 440 acres that will help save Hanscom.''

Larry Chiarella, general manager of the Fuji unit expanding at Hanscom, said the company's project was helped significantly by members of the Romney administration. But he said it was too simplistic to credit the move to tax credits alone.

Two programs that were at least as beneficial to the project predate the administration's announcements, he said. These include a state development-incentive program, which the town of Bedford recently joined, and the Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership, a work force training program sponsored by the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

The latter program is part of an effort by UMass president William M. Bulger to build stronger ties between businesses and the state university system -- perhaps the only area in which Romney and Bulger share a common agenda.

Fuji initially announced the Hanscom expansion Feb. 10, saying it would add more than 90 jobs to an existing facility where it produces tape cartridges used to store data in large computer networks. It has about 145 employees at the site already.

The project was later threatened when tax credits the company expected to receive were slow in coming.

''I guess I would say the Romney administration was able to think creatively and come up with a solution to their problem,'' Pozen said.

Ross Kerber of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
This story ran on page E1 of the Boston Globe on 5/9/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
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