A state-wide political campaign is an excellent opportunity to appreciate the diverse environment that we call Arizona. Picture this state from the Grand Canyon and San Francisco Peaks to Organ Pipe National Monument, that is, from Page, Williams and Flagstaff to Gila Bend, Ajo and Why. And picture the state from the Colorado river along our western border to the high country and desert of our eastern border, that is, from Yuma and Kingman to Chinle, Safford and Douglas. One finds an incredible range of landscape. Then think of the urban centers of this state with unique needs while also acting as hubs to the telecommunications spokes spread across the state. This diverse landscape shapes nothing more than it shapes the challenge of our telecommunications infrastructure. With communications technologies equally varied, the challenge is providing policy and incentives that encourage healthy, appropriate, competitive development across all of our unique landscape. But we have met that challenge before with transportation, water and power infrastructures. We can meet the challenge again by ongoing collaboration between state and local communities of interest recognizing how different technologies work better in different environments and different technologies work better for different community goals. We need to be as resourceful as past Arizonans as we envision a proud, prosperous future for our state.

Arizona's disparate telecommunications industry deserves ongoing support. Arizona's telecommunications markets are even more diverse and will require diligent effort to assure each aspect and each community is given its due. As governor I will engage and lead all of the communities of interest as we review regulatory and economic constraints and explore how to build a framework of incentives appropriate for our diverse needs.

As Governor, it is incumbent on me to lead Arizona in attracting high tech industry.

In order to attract high-quality businesses to Arizona and retain and grow them, we must look at our fundamental structures, like tax and regulatory policies and ensure we are, and continue to remain, competitive against other states in terms of our attractiveness.

As Governor, I will create a team of economic development leaders to work diligently to do what is necessary to locate corporate headquarters in Arizona.

In creating quality jobs in Arizona, the first subject is the obvious cost of taxes. For Arizona businesses, the tax that limits job growth is not the income tax, which has been cut significantly over the past few years. In fact, Arizona's income tax structure is an advantage for us nationally in attracting new jobs. What hurts Arizona are property taxes. Property taxes hurt businesses, especially small businesses, which provide most of the jobs in Arizona. The property tax rate for business is two and one half times that charged to individuals. True, there is an exemption, but it has not been sufficiently adjusted to appropriately reflect today's cost of business investment.

The most egregious example of unfair property tax is the "business personal property tax," which taxes business assets and equipment every year. Arizona is one of the few states that has this onerous tax. As a result, we are at a disadvantage when competing for business with other states, especially in competing for export industries such as manufacturing. During my term as Governor, I will make eliminating this tax my top tax cutting priority. Property taxes on business increase costs, making prices higher, sales lower and jobs fewer. While we cannot eliminate all property taxes, we must balance them against our need for more jobs in Arizona. As Governor, I will work to minimize the property tax burden and increase the ability of businesses to create quality jobs.

Please access www.betseybayless.com for a full copy of my economic plan.

Arizona can maximize its educational expenditures by taking full advantage of the Internet. The Internet makes possible a completely new and innovative way to teach and learn. Students can take classes based on their schedules and at their own speed. This will enable thousands of employees to expand their educational horizons and become more productive members of our economic community.

More jobs will come only if the community has the resources to support them. Such resources are: schools that give students the opportunities to become fully capable and independent in today's world; the energy, technology and communications infrastructure necessary for conducting business throughout Arizona and the world; universities that develop world-class, specialized science and technology expertise; the security for Arizonans to work and travel without threat of violence or terrorism.

Under a Bayless Administration, Arizona will lead in making data and regulations transparent to business, linking information and presenting it in a user-friendly format. No more informational "silos" organizing data around a state agency's functional point of view. Going forward, we will work to share our information with the public in an easy to understand and use manner. This includes my support for a state Internet portal.

This, of course, requires a clear understanding of who has appropriate access to the various pieces of information and to preventing inappropriate access to it. As Secretary of State, I led the E-government initiative. We developed on-line forms, provided responses within one business day, provided government information on the Internet to make research less expensive and more efficient. We also actively led efforts to define adequate electronic records management and archival and will continue to do so when I am governor.

Having an excellent telecommunications infrastructure that can provide everyone with Internet service is essential to all parts of Arizona. As Governor, I will work with Arizona communities to ensure they have the infrastructure necessary for the applications they wish to bring into their community. I will be committed to ensuring the infrastructure necessary to conduct business will be in place, under private or public auspices as appropriate, in order that Arizona is able to accommodate the new jobs created for our citizens.

Given Arizona's growth rate and the positive outlook for the state, the most important incentive Arizona can provide to attract businesses is a favorable business climate. A quality climate includes an excellent education system, a fair and equitable tax structure, and a good quality of life. As Governor, I will create a partnership between government and business that promotes job creation and economic expansion and I will serve as the leader of that partnership. I have worked in business. I have also worked in government at both the county and state levels. I even headed a commission responsible for making business regulations more reasonable and efficient. In other words, I have worked on both sides of the table. As Arizona's Governor, I will respect the expectations and abilities of our citizens and communities as well as the ideas and investments of our entrepreneurs. Government cannot pick the economic winners, but it can strive to provide a level playing field on which businesses can compete. As Governor, working together with these business leaders, I will coordinate the efforts to plan for Arizona's future. I will encourage strategic initiatives like the Greater Phoenix Business Leadership Coalition (GPBLC) effort to build and sustain a robust economy for Arizona. Working together, we will create a strategic plan to expand Arizona's economy.

The availability and quality of advanced telecommunications undisputedly varies depending on several factors, many of which are co-related. Geography, and another closely related factor, household income, are most certainly major factors in the disparity of the availability and quality of advanced services. That is why in my seventeen point economic plan, www.betseybayless.com, I commit to assisting Arizona's rural citizens and rural business development.

Arizona's smaller communities, individually, lack the budget strength to evaluate and promote the economic advantages they have to offer employers. Their residents, of course, are just as important as Arizonans living in larger areas promoting their communities more aggressively. Each rural area of Arizona must be included in a defined region and a business strategy for each region must be developed.

As Governor, I will work with rural communities to ensure they have the infrastructure necessary to create new jobs. Today, our rural communities do not have the high tech infrastructure to attract wealth-generating companies.

At the turn of the 20th century, rural Arizona was in need of infrastructure. At that time, the government came in and helped our communities build the infrastructure needed to expand our economy. This year in fact we are celebrating the centennial of the Salt River Project. As Governor, I will work with our Congressional delegation to ensure Arizona is receiving our fair share for our infrastructure needs.

Today, at the beginning of a new century we must bring government, our communities and the private sector together to build a new infrastructure system to give our rural communities the same opportunity to grow and blossom in the new high technology economy. As I meet with business and government leaders across Arizona, they consistently complain of the lack of high technology infrastructure. As Governor, I will work with the telecommunications infrastructure providers to ensure we have sufficient technologically critical infrastructure developed in our rural communities.

Government should maintain and expand opportunities for public access to excellent communications services. Government, while being cautious as to not impede in any way such development, must preserve and protect Arizona citizen's safety and privacy. As Governor, I will work to encourage both state and local government towards infrastructure deployment. As Governor, I will continue my efforts to promote technological literacy and making the Internet more useful and meaningful to all communities. As Governor, I will work to ensure all of Arizona can have the access to robust broadband communications and the ability to utilize communication infrastructure.

A change in technology requires a change in security methods. Gunpowder made the knight in armor and the castle equally obsolete. When I am Governor, security needs will be assessed, a plan will be formulated and implemented including adequate funding. We need 21st century locks, vaults and defenders for our digital treasures.

Security and privacy rights go hand in hand. In order to preserve privacy we must have sound security; we must allow appropriate access to information and prevent inappropriate access. I support government policies to protect privacy such as creating and updating statutes to include cyber-crimes. Although we have made progress in this respect, we must continue because more is needed as digital technologies evolve. I will work to ensure the security and privacy plan developed is successfully implemented. The more business and government does to secure data, the fewer government mandates that will have to be in place. And, if the telecommunication industry is to have the faith and trust of the public, it must work hand in hand with government towards security.

As Secretary of State I have been a champion of e-government and the implementation of digital technology. The Secretary of State is charged with approving all state agency electronic signature use. We have always viewed that as approving methods that create signed electronic government records. We have taken the preservation of those records very seriously. E-government presents a new challenge for preservation of records which we have actively explored and will continue to explore. As Governor, I will continue my efforts to lead Arizona into the future by working with historians, archivists and librarians around the state in the development of a plan to best preserve our records.