Speech to Cheyenne Business Day at Legislature
Feb. 19, 2002

What a privilege it is to speak to all of you here today.

As a candidate for governor, I think I can say with some authority and you folks are the key to Wyoming's economic future - and if elected governor, I want to help you in every way possible.

Republican Candidate Bill Sniffin, Lander, answers a question about international trade following his speech at Business Day at the Wyoming Legislature. The event was held at the Cheyenne Holiday Inn with more than 250 people in attendance. It was sponsored by the Wyoming Chamber of Commerce directors.

It is wonderful to be here and it's fun to be here with all the candidates - from both parties.

The last time we were all together it was at a candidate's forum at the state press convention in Casper in January. It was held in a bar during the cocktail party and it was loud and boisterous.

Most of you know that I have spent most of my business life as a newspaper reporter, editor and publisher.
Do you fellas remember what you said to me at that event?

You said, hey Bill, you've a big advantage on us here - this is your crowd. THESE ARE YOUR KIND OF PEOPLE.

Well, here we are again - meeting for the second time of many times we will all meet on the campaign trail.
I know economic development from the ground up. I have been doing that -- and that is what I bring to the table as a candidate for governor of Wyoming.

Well, I want to tell my fellow candidates a not-so-secret truth - The good people in this room -- YOU ARE MY KIND OF PEOPLE.

What you do every day is what I have done every day for almost 30 years.

During my 31 years in Wyoming, I have been doing what you folks do on a daily basis - try to build our state's economy.

In my town of Lander, I served on our city economic development commission for several years before founding with our mayor the LEADER Corporation.

During the depts of the Wyoming 1980s depression, Lander was probably hurt the worst of any city or town in the state.

We had to do something.

We found 100 people to invest $1,000 each in an economic development entity called LEADER.
Let me tell you a little about what we got done in the last 18 years.

First we met every week and are still meeting every week- - Wednesday mornings at 7 a.m. I figure I have attended over 1,200 meetings during this time =- like most of you, our nickname could be Meetings R Us

According to our Treasurer, LEADER has leveraged $4.5 million over the past 15 years, created 200 jobs, saved countless others, recruited hundreds of families to our town and directly helped more than 35 businesses and assisted hundreds more. We also worked on every other type of economic development activity imaginable. We were major players in development of the Continental Divide Snowmobile Trail and a new 18-hole golf course.

I would like to share with you all something very nice that happened to me back on Feb. 6 at my rally in Lander when I formally announced my entry in to this governor race.

We have a very successful local owner of the largest art foundry west of the Mississippi, Monte Paddleford. He is also former president of the Wyoming Manufactures assn.

He stood up and said a bunch of very nice things about me - most of which I had totally forgotten. I would like to share just one thing he said.

Monte Paddleford (entrepreneur and manufacturer):

"Bill has been a part of our lives since 1985. Bill was the first person we met when we decided to build an art foundry in Lander. He was president of LEADER (Lander's local economic development group). We put together a financial package that allowed us to get the foundry get going.

"I will never forget Bill's help. It came from a man who had nothing to gain from our business's success. We had never encountered this before. "He is a visionary and a man with focus who follows through. Bill saw growth potential for our business before we could see it ourselves.

Well, Monte was wrong, I could see our community was crumbling and we needed to build it back up. I did have something to gain

His company now employs 55 people and Lander now has more bronze statues of its Main Street of any city in the country, per-capita.

I have some other things I want to say about Wyoming's future and what I intend to do if elected governor to improve and stabilize the economy. I list them as six very important concepts:

First, we need to hit some home runs. We need to add value to our minerals. We need power plants here in Wyoming. I've lived in a town where the mines shut down for good - Do you know what I call a region where industrialized companies and areas come up and rip out the raw materials and ship them home where they can be converted into value-added products. Do you know what they call a placer like that? They call it a colony.

MY FRIENDS, WE ARE NOT A COLONY.
If I am elected governor, we will do everything in our power to add value to our minerals. I am a business builder and a team builder - I know how to do business deals and I will put the full force of the governor's office to working with energy companies to accomplish this goal.

And we need to work regionally to develop the electric transmission lines to carry that electricity out of our state.

Second, we need to expand our existing businesses. The manufacturing sector can grow 2,400 listed -- We need to support our local economic development groups and our banks.

• Like Holly Sugar in Worland.
  
• Like Monte Paddleford in Lander.
  
• All Wire in Gillette
  
• Star Tech in Riverton
  

Lots of others but in the long run, the creation of small companies with 20 to 50 employees is our future - and our best protection against the ups and downs of Wyoming's volatile mineral economy.

We need to become experts in some very boring things - things like health insurance, workman's compensation, tax structures, revenue bond systems, workforce grants . . .

Third, we need to expand our quality workforce. Three ways - good education for our kids, second, come home to Wyoming, and third, with adult Ed, help the under-employed, the working poor who are already here.

Fourth, We need to develop our entrepreneurs and the In-trapanerus - also within government- - do public-private partnerships, Power of a good idea -

Fifth, we need to celebrate profit motive. Profits are what make business run - we over 50,000 government employees in Wyoming of one sort or another - profit is a bad word in government. Let's make sure we understand that profits is what allows companies to be here In the first place and to expand.

Sixth, we need to concentrate on infrastructure - fiber optic, four lane highways, and good airline service

Refer to the Olympic theme -

"What unites us is far greater than what divides us"

You gain power when you share it, not when you hoard it

The Power of a great idea - remember that

I am one of you - this is my crowd.

I honestly believe the people in this room hold the economic future of Wyoming in their hands - the key to our success will be diversification and the key to that is saving our local jobs, helping our local entrepreneurs add new jobs and figuring out ways to help our business people make more profits - profits drive economic expansion! Not civic pride or community service, but profits.

We could be entering a golden age in Wyoming -

There were several important facts presented by Gov. Jim Geringer in his state of the state message that I want to talk about here.

He pointed out that Wyoming has seen an increase of 21,000 jobs since 1997. What an important statistic. I give you folks much of the credit for that great news.

I also give great credit to the Wyoming Business Council. I could not imagine how difficult it would be to expand our Wyoming economy without the WBC in place.

Wyoming, to date, had issued 164 grants to train 2,823 employees in 116 businesses with $2.8 million spent of the $3.0 million the Legislature approved last year. Fully 75 percent of the funds went to existing Wyoming employers.

I support adding funds this year to assure our future growth.

Our Wyoming Department of Employment has proposed legislation for unemployment tax reductions and improvements in worker benefits. I support a move to enact the revisions and to institute a 25 percent unemployment insurance tax reduction in 2003. That action by the Legislature would have the effect of putting approximately $9 million into the hands of the business community.

We need to increase our access to high-speed connectivity. I heard this loud and clear from people statewide in the communities I've recently visited.

Let's celebrate our success stories

• Weda
  
• Wbc
  
• Wyoming business alliance - leadership Wyoming
  

There is a job creation renaissance in Wyoming cities and towns and it will happen because of you - I want to help you get there.

Continue to do targeted industry studies - use facilitators - train our small manufactures how to market and help them find international markets, too.

NO STATE INCOME TAX

I plan to get a handle on severance taxes shortly

I believe you if don't grow, you die - many people like status quo, but those of us in business know that sometimes you run as hard as you can, just to stay in place - we can't let up.

I would like to come to your towns and talk to your groups.

My friends, I truly believe (because of you), Wyoming is on the verge of a golden age in job creation.

From one end of Wyoming to the other, together we are making something great happen. We are providing our future generations with jobs and job security. What better goal in our lives could any of us have?

I am one of you. I want to join you in this noble cause as your governor. I salute you.

Thank you.

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Authorized by William C. Sniffin
Contributions or gifts to Bill Sniffin for Governor 2002 are not tax-deductible.
Bill Sniffin for Governor - P.O. Box 900 ­ Lander, WY 82520 (307) 332-3111, ext. 17