By Jean Hoffman

Special to the Press Herald

I am building my second startup company in Portland, Putney, to provide lower-cost generic drugs for dogs and cats.

Putney is growing rapidly, from zero when I founded it in 2006 to a planned $150 million in revenues in 2012, from zero employees to 12 today.

We plan to create more than 35 jobs in Portland, with benefits, paid training and the opportunity to advance and grow in our community. We are growing and creating good jobs even during the recession.

However, while I am succeeding in raising capital, guiding strategy and recruiting great people, my ability to create jobs here and ability and willingness to grow the business is jeopardized by issues with the Portland Jetport.

Putney is a national business. We manufacture our high-quality pharmaceutical products globally. Our executives, including myself, need to travel.

We need to travel efficiently, otherwise the cost of travel and time wasted impedes our ability to do business. If we cannot travel efficiently, Putney cannot be located in Maine.

I continue to be shocked by the number of Transportation Security Agency employees and their likely cost and drain on our economy at the Jetport. There are more TSA inspectors and supervisors in Portland per passenger than I see at any other airport in America, and they are slower and waste more time watching over each other than at those other airports, too.

On June 21, after being searched and delayed in security screening, I spoke to the TSA supervisor on duty, who was backed up by the Portland police officer on duty.

In response to my complaints about inefficiency at the Jetport and how it impeded my ability to do business and build jobs, the TSA supervisor told me that "air travel is a privilege, not a right."

Wrong. Travel in America is a right, not a privilege. Travel is essential to the ability to do business and build jobs in Maine. Being employed by or elected to the government, whether as a police officer, governor or TSA employee, is a privilege, not a right.

The privilege of government employment is based on service to the citizens who rely on government employees to keep our community safe and operating efficiently.

Just as our highways are useless if bottlenecks constantly impede our ability to drive or transport goods, so is the Portland Jetport useless if the security screening takes longer and costs our taxpayers more money than elsewhere.

I gather that the Portland Jetport management wants me and other businesspeople to fly out of Boston or Manchester, N.H., two vastly more efficient airports from a TSA screening point of view.

Or perhaps they simply want me to move my business and its growth and employment to a state with better-run airports, such as Massachusetts, New Hampshire or New Jersey.

I hope that the security screening can be sped up at the Portland Jetport so that it is at least as efficient as screening in other airports.

Given the skills and dedication of Maine people, I see no reason why our airport, if properly managed, cannot be a model of efficiency that supports and attracts business to Maine rather than the embarrassing, inefficient drag on our economy and tax base that it is today.

I hope that with proper guidance, the TSA employees can realize their opportunity to contribute to Maine's economy while helping to keep Portland safe.

Jean Hoffman is president, CEO and founder of Putney Inc. in Portland.