LEWISTON — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Libby Mitchell announced Friday a plan to make government more transparent, efficient and business friendly. 

Speaking from the Democratic campaign offices on Lisbon Street, Mitchell’s  Government for the 21st Century plan includes merging the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development with the State Planning Office to create an Office of Strategic Initiatives and Job Creation.

The new agency would run through the governor’s office and be staffed by individuals skilled in dealing with businesses, she said. Currently, Mitchell said, the State Planning Office and DECD struggle to work with one another, often creating unnecessary hurdles for businesses that want to expand or come to Maine.

“This is about breaking down walls,” she said.

Mitchell said the new office would reduce state government, while encouraging job growth in the private sector.

Mitchell’s plan, if she’s elected, could experience push-back from the Legislature. Gov. John Baldacci has twice failed to consolidated state agencies.

Last winter, he proposed merging the departments of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Marine Resources and Conservation and Agriculture.

According to published reports, Baldacci’s proposal was eventually shelved after lobbyists representing farmers, loggers and commercial fisherman said the plan would adversely impact regulatory efforts while yielding little savings.

Baldacci pegged the cost savings at $1.5 million annually.

Mitchell insisted her plan would be different. She did not identify specific savings or job projections, saying the proposal had been hatched after several brainstorming sessions with her Government Reform Policy Committee over the last two weeks.

Mitchell described her plan as “L.L. Bean-style of state government.”

“We are going to be customer service driven,” she said.

The plan includes increased latitude for businesses to meet the state’s regulatory standards. In effect, Mitchell’s plan would allow businesses to propose alternative strategies to comply with state law.

“We would maintain our very strict regulatory standards,” she said. “But if there’s a way to reach the same standard without a prescribed way to do it, we will ask the regulating authority to do it.”

Mitchell said she didn’t anticipate a flood of such requests from businesses.

Her proposal follows independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler’s recent claim that state bureaucracy is impeding business growth. Cutler has proposed eliminating the state’s Board of Environmental Protection and replacing it with a three-judge Appellate Board of Review. 

Meanwhile, Republican candidate Paul LePage has said environmental groups have too much influence. He’s indicated he would replace current environmental regulations with more business-friendly standards.

Other proposals in Mitchell’s plan include reviewing state tax laws and broadcasting and archiving every state government proceeding on the Internet, including licensing and regulatory meetings.