Democratic candidate for governor Ed Fallon says Iowa’s business climate should focus on small businesses, entrepreneurial start-ups, and things that are working. The Main Street Program’s one he says has been very successful. Fallon says it’s an investment of only half a million a year, compared with some fifty-million dollars for the Iowa Values Fund, that he says has generated tremendous returns. “We have more award-winning Main Street Communities than any other state in the nation,” Fallon says. He declares that by focusing on smalltown infrastructure and big-city commercial centers, “you develop the infrastructure that makes it attractive for businesses to locate, and operate.” Fallon says doling out tens or millions of dollars to a handful of companies, the way the state’s doing now, won’t significantly change the Iowa economy, and he wants to see more resources committed to the Small Business Development Centers. Fallon, a Democrat, also says the way to help small businesses deal with healthcare issues effectively is to overhaul the entire healthcare system. “You can’t just start picking up one little piece you want to fix,” he insists, “because you do that and you’ll cause a bleep somewhere else.” He says Iowa should do as Maine did and reform the healthcare system from the bottom up. Right now we have a system Fallon says “is working great for insurance companies and drug companies and the hospitals.” But he says it’s not working for average citizens and the businesses that can’t pay the increasing healthcare premiums for their workers. Fallon is pushing his 8-point economic-development plan on the campaign trail.
