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Baker-Polito Administration Reaching Out to Small Business
By Tammy Daniels, iBerkshires Staff
03:01AM / Monday, January 12, 2015
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Chamber Chairwoman Lind Febles of Coakley Pierpan Dolan & Collins.

The governor mingles after speaking with the Berkshire Chamber.


Berkshire Chamber of Commerce President Jonathan Butler, right, solicits questions for Gov. Charlie Baker.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Energy costs and small-business support will be priorities in the new Baker-Polito administration.

"Both of us ... heard over and over again how difficult it is to do business in this state," Gov. Charlie Baker told nearly 100 local and business leaders Saturday at a gathering hosted by the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce at the Berkshire Museum.

The stop was a last-minute addition to the "Spotlight on Excellence" tour of six sites across the state, including Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and Soldier On.

Citing recent reports that have the state ranking at the bottom in business-friendly environments, the governor envisions a small-business task force with larger working subcommittees.

The goal is to find a way to find out "what's really going on on the ground."

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said part of that will be a review of regulations affecting small businesses to find out what's working and what's not.

"Most small businesses feel overregulated," she said.

Baker said the Berkshires has already ahead by creating 1Berkshire, "a mechanism to speak more in one voice".

"It makes it much easier for us as an entity to speak to you and to talk to you about the things that matter to you in your region," he said.

The statements were in response to several questions from the audience during Baker and Polito's half-hour appearance.

Chamber President Jonathan Butler is hoping to schedule a more informal roundtable once Baker gets his key leaders in place, and plans an invitation to speak at a chamber luncheon.

"We're going to try to stay on his list to make sure he's checking things out here," Butler said. "We're happy to have him today and look forward to having him more in the future."

He described Saturday's turnout as representative of the area's industries and "a good selection of people for the governor to meet."

The governor scored points in showing he had a grasp of who's who, ticking off a list of accomplishments by chamber Chairwoman Linda Febles when she stood to ask a question.

He returned several times to themes he had sounded earlier in the day at Mass MoCA — working collaboratively with local governments and private enterprise, replicating initiatives that are working and doing more on the "sell side" by accentuating positive accomplishments.

"We are very interested in collaborative activities," he said, adding that the give and take between divergent views often results in a better product, citing Mass MoCA as an example.

Baker said he also would be collaborating with his fellow New England governors on how to expand natural gas capacity in response to recent hikes in energy cost.  

"That is mostly a delivery issue, it's not a supply issue," he said.

The governor said the state should have been looking at ways to expand capacity, particularly by using existing rights of way, several years ago. (The controversial Kinder Morgan pipeline has revamped its Berkshire route to take advantage of utility rights of way.)

"Everybody knew there was going to be a tremendous amount of supply coming out of Pennsylvania," he said.

The new administration is beginning a 100-day review of current projects and has instituted a hiring freeze.

"Our goal is to deliver as efficient a state government to you as we can," Baker said. "We've seen state government from both sides of the equations."

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