White River Junction, Vermont — Global search leader Google Inc.’s “Matt Dunne,” the man who oversees its worldwide community affairs efforts to polish its image in the places where it has offices, running his candidacy for governor of Vermont is drawing attention, because of his other job — as an executive with the Internet search giant Google.
Dunne 40, a former legislator is head of community affairs for the California-based Google and functions out of White River Junction. Dunne’s dream of using innovative technology — and the broadband Internet connection supporting it — is an indication of what he touts as the key to Vermont’s economic future as he campaigns for the 2010 Democratic nomination for governor. He says he wishes to import Google’s culture of being organizationally flat, fast and innovative into state government.
“We need to, and I believe have an opportunity to, go from one of the lowest broadband penetration states in the country to become the numero uno state that brings fiber-optic high-speed Internet to every home in the state,” Dunne said in an interview. “And that is an incredible opportunity for us to move from a state that is not thought of as being a technological center to being recognized as technological center.”
He says an important aim of his campaign is the goal of bringing broadband Internet access to every corner of Vermont.
Dunne is one of five Democrats who was victorious in the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in 2006, now confronts a crowded field of four other Democrats and the office-holder Republican lieutenant governor, Brian Dubie, all competing to replace the retiring Gov. Jim Douglas, in the November election.
Dunne says he anticipates his collection of experiences in the public and private sectors will distinguish him.
Eric Davis, an emeritus Middlebury College political science professor, said he did not consider Dunne’s Google lineage being a big component in the campaign unless the candidate can use his Google clouts to help him build a Web site with new and innovative tools that make it stand out against other campaign Web sites.
Distributing broadband and bettering cell-phone service statewide are the major factors to other issues on which Dunne is focusing his campaign. On energy, Dunne believes “smart metering,” which can inform electric customers moment-to-moment how much power they are consuming, combined with Vermonters’ famed frugality, will enable the state to shave megawatts off its power demand.
Dunne said he wish to transform Vermont’s state government into a number one position in its use of technology. And he said he would try to import some of Google’s culture as he does so.
“Google intentionally runs a flat, fast, innovative organization, where people with new ideas to solve problems are celebrated, not shut down,” Dunne said. “And that is the kind of approach that we need to take in Vermont if we are going to change the way that we do government.”
Dunne grew up in nearby Hartland, attended Brown University and won election to the Vermont House at 22. He served four two-year terms there and two in the Senate, where he gained a reputation as a champion of economic development legislation. When Dunne was 29, President Bill Clinton appointed him to head up the AmeriCorps-VISTA program, in which he oversaw the work of 6,000 full-time volunteers. He was reappointed by President George W. Bush and held the job until 2002.
In the private sector, Dunne is the former marketing director for Vermont-based software startup and has worked for Google since 2007.
Davis did believes that Dunne might be able to make a mark about using technology to make government operate more efficiently — a goal much talked about recently given that Vermont, like many other states, faces serious budget troubles.
“Many other states allow people to do more things online and present things (on state Web sites) in a more citizen-friendly way than does Vermont,” Davis said.