SSTI Digest

Robert Cresanti was nominated by President Bush to become the next undersecretary of Commerce for Technology.

Jim Denn was named deputy executive director of the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR).

Peter Gold was appointed associate provost for economic initiatives at Rutgers-Camden.

Eric Griego was appointed assistant secretary of economic development for the New Mexico Economic Development Department.

Robert Cresanti was nominated by President Bush to become the next undersecretary of Commerce for Technology.

Jim Denn was named deputy executive director of the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR).

Peter Gold was appointed associate provost for economic initiatives at Rutgers-Camden.

Eric Griego was appointed assistant secretary of economic development for the New Mexico Economic Development Department.

Hunt Lambert was selected as the new associate vice president for economic development in the Colorado State University system.

Jim Pennekamp will be the executive director of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's research and business park, effective Dec. 1.

John Reardon will be new Charles County Economic Development Department chief in Maryland, effective in December.

Steven Weathers is the new president and CEO of the Regional Growth Partnership in Toledo, Ohio.

As off-year elections go, the Nov. 8, 2005, election was pretty quiet across the country if you weren't running for mayor in one of 300-plus municipalities up for grabs or governor of New Jersey or Virginia. Issues of importance for the technology-based economic development (TBED) community, however, were on the agenda of the nation's only two gubernatorial elections, several of the few bond issues up, and a dozen or so referenda or constitutional amendments on the ballot. This week's Digest is dedicated to looking at the implications for local and statewide TBED efforts in those states that had significant issues before the electorate.

New Jersey and Virginia were the only two states to choose governors in November 2005, with both states having open races. Below is a description of each governor-elect's position on TBED.

New Jersey

New Jersey Gov.-elect Jon Corzine handily defeated Republican businessman Doug Forrester by winning more than 1.15 million votes (53 percent) to 956,795 votes (44 percent) in unofficial results. The governor-elect, who is currently a U.S. senator, will replace Democratic Acting Gov. Richard Codey, who will return to the state Senate as president of that chamber when Gov.-elect Corzine takes his oath of office. As the former chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, Senator Corzine put economic development at the top of his agenda during his campaign and said that he will streamline the state’s economic development apparatus and bring the New Jersey Economic Growth & Tourism Commission into the governor’s office.

Last Tuesday's election included a major bond package in Maine, a constitutional amendment in Ohio to complete the Third Frontier initiative, budget reform in New York, and additional TBED items in Iowa and Texas. Following are the results from some of the major ballot and bond issues within the states.