LEWISTON – Control. Information. Influence.

Today when GrowSmart Maine and the Brookings Institution officially release a comprehensive study of the state’s economy and recommendations for creating “sustainable prosperity,” a number of people won’t be surprised, including dozens of journalists who were given early access to the findings.

The candidates for governor also won’t be surprised, at least not completely. Nor will various groups who helped with research, public hearings and funding. They had the opportunity for pre-release briefings, which lacked the level of detail given to the state’s media and other participants in the study, but, nonetheless, included the rough outline of what will be presented today.

It’s all part of GrowSmart’s effort to inject itself into this November’s election, to control the release of information it has paid about $1 million to collect and to guarantee headlines and airtime on media outlets around the state. Simply put, to join the conversation.

Those who agreed to play by GrowSmart’s and Brookings’ rules received the entire report, as well as access to source material that was collected and used to create the final product.

They also received a list of sources who could talk about the report before its release.

Today is also the first day reporters could write or broadcast stories with information from the report or the interviews they had conducted.

The goal behind the carefully scripted release of the information was to put it into the public consciousness during a time when a lot of people are paying attention – a gubernatorial election – but without giving one side an advantage or the opportunity to cherry pick data, said Mark Muro, the author of the report and policy director at Brookings Metropolitan Policy Institute.

“Our hope is that people are interested in a more three-dimensional conversation,” Muro said.

But being part of the conversation also comes with pitfalls.

The report makes major recommendations and points out significant flaws in the state’s economy, apparently giving ammunition to candidates and causes alike. It also says things aren’t as bad as they sometimes seem.

For example, one of the key findings in the report is that the state government is inefficient and redundant and could be cut to produce between $60 million and $100 million in annual savings. That information could’ve come straight from a Taxpayer Bill of Rights flier.

“We’re trying to minimize exactly what you’re talking about,” Muro said. “TABOR responds to a real problem in our view. The question then is how to respond. We’re going in a different direction.”

Likewise, the report recommends almost $400 million in new bonds to support conservation, urban redevelopment and investment in research and development. The sermon is the same one that Democrats have been preaching for years.

Maine is in a good position to bond, Muro said. The state’s debt is below the national average and the state pays back its bonds on a quicker schedule than most other places.

“We’re not talking about adding to the debt load,” Muro said. “We’ve identified where the funding (for the borrowing) is coming from.”

The difficulty comes in getting people to view the document as a whole and not use it as a rhetorical weapon during a heated campaign season or pick out particular pieces and ignore the rest, Muro said.

“The fear is that if you put it out after the election, people won’t pay attention or will say, ‘Now you tell us,'” Muro said.