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ALBANY --
Economic Development is one of the only issues both candidates running for Governor agree should be a top priority. Our Capitol Correspondent Susan Arbetter sat down today with the State's current economic development quarterback, Dennis Mullen.
Mullen, a former CEO at Birdseye, is pretty blunt about being fired from that job. And in the two years he's run the state's economic development programs, he's been equally as plain-spoken about what's holding New York back. Mullen says, " I think that the political leadership of the future has to come with intellectual honesty about what we're dealing with.:
What ARE we dealing with? High property and personal income taxes, and workers comp rates that are less competitive than elsewhere. But this week Mullen and Governor David Paterson unveiled a website portal that promotes New York's assets in a way that counteracts the high cost of doing business.
New York First was created to untangle New York's sometime messy web of economic development benefits and bureaucracies. It's a single portal for business, and it even comes with a very private sector-sounding guarantee.
Back in May, there were unconfirmed but persistent reports that Mullen was being recruited by State GOP Chairman Ed Cox to run for Governor. Mullen told the Capitol report that if asked, he would be happy to stay on in his current position, whoever the governor might be.
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