Bill Diamond (X) vs. Lani Kelly

Incumbent State Sen. Bill Diamond has proven his capacity for leadership. He’s served as Maine’s Secretary of State. He’s served in the House and the Senate. He’s been a Raymond school superintendent and a Windham school principal. He’s owned local businesses. He hosts a current issues TV show. The man knows this area and its issues. Because of his wealth of experience and demonstration of passion and vigor for our region and its people, Bill Diamond gets our nod for state Senate District 12.

Lani Kelly, his challenger, is a tough fighter. She is giving this race her all. She has good ideas. She supports TABOR; she supports business. She is a woman of high integrity and faith and we admire her convictions. Most impressively, Kelly, if elected, said she would fight for the average working Mainer who is struggling to pay the rising cost of health insurance. She clearly also wants to help business buckling under the pressure of taxation and regulation.

For all these qualities, Kelly’s a worthy candidate as well. But she lacks experience. She’s never served in political office and a person running for Senate needs to work their way into the job by first having a broad range of experiences and knowledge of people and issues in the area they will represent. Kelly, for all her dedication and determination, lacks that key ingredient.

Diamond also works extremely well across party lines and as a Democrat, he has gone against the party line on several issues. He’s an advocate of business. In fact at 54 percent, he leads all Democrats in the MERI ratings. The Lakes Region has a strong advocate in Augusta because of him. He knows how to make Augusta work for the people in our area who need it to work for them.

Gary Plummer (X) vs. Geoffrey Heckman

Incumbent state representative for Windham Gary Plummer has been in politics for a long, long time. He was county commissioner for 22 years. He’s served on multiple Windham organizations and even served on the first town council in Windham. The man is an institution and one we think deserves to continue to serve.

Plummer is a strong representative for District 111 in Windham. He favors TABOR because he sees business struggling with over-taxation and over-regulation. He also sees Augusta’s spending habits as reckless. “We need to stop spending money we don’t have. We’re only passing down the burden,” he said. One idea he has is to force the Legislature to end each session with a zero balance, similar to the way households must manage their own finances. That sounds practical.

Plummer also favors regionalization of services. He would look to regionalize school districts in an effort to find creative ways to share management. That makes sense, too.

His challenger Geoffrey Heckman has some good ideas. He laments health care provider Anthem’s CEO receiving a $44 million bonus, the vanishing of the middle class, and the divisive partisan politics in Augusta. Not having served on local boards, he unfortunately doesn’t have the experience Plummer has with local issues and people. Not that he needs the lifetime of service that Plummer has, but some experience is a pre-requisite for a state office.

Tom Bossie vs. Rich Cebra (X)

Rich Cebra, incumbent state representative for Naples and Casco, gets our nod for another two years.

In the tourism-focused District 101, Cebra knows exactly what life is like for the struggling business owner since he owns a mini-golf and ice cream shop in Naples. Since small business is the lifeblood of the Lakes Region, his vigorous fight against high taxation, unnecessary regulation and skyrocketing health care costs is a perspective not to be lost. Simply put, he has the best of his constituents in mind. He is a tireless community activist serving on several local committees while still serving in the Legislature. And he wants to work to reduce government’s imposition on the people of Maine.

But Cebra is facing a tough opponent in Tom Bossie. If elected, Bossie has set three priorities for his first days in Augusta. He wants to secure money to fix what he says is a dangerous Naples Causeway bridge. He also wants to work on getting the state to be more urgent in the eradication of milfoil. And Bossie, who is a mortgage broker, wants to make it so Maine property sellers don’t have to pay a transfer tax when selling a property to out-of-staters.

Bossie is tenacious. He’s got concrete ideas for making his district a better place to live in. Whoever wins the race should take up his ideas for milfoil eradication and fixing the bridge. But for all his good points, Bossie distorts Cebra’s record. He believes Cebra is soft on sex offenders because Cebra voted against Jessica’s Law.

An active supporter of the original language of Jessica’s Law that called for 25-years to life terms for anyone convicted of child molestation, Cebra is anything but weak on crime. He said he didn’t support the “watering down” of the law and on principle had to vote against the bill’s final language. He knew he would be politically attacked, but on principle Cebra made the decision to stick by his guns. Bossie should have at least talked to Cebra before printing campaign literature slamming him erroneously.

In the sea of moral compromise known as politics, Cebra has proven to be a steady influence. This sort of rock-solid leadership is needed in Augusta.

John Robinson (X) vs. Lu Bauer

John Robinson, incumbent state rep for District 103, understands what the loss of a sustaining business can do to a community. Inheritor of the family business, Robinson Manufacturing Co., Robinson inherited a sizable problem several years ago. Originally a textile manufacturer with factories in several small Maine towns including Kezar Falls and Oxford, Robinson has watched the family business fizzle and reorganize because of unwise and overbearing government intrusions into the business sector.

Robinson’s aim is to see the free market and capitalism thrive in Maine. He wants to focus on business development, lowering taxes and investing in companies that do research and development. That is a noble goal and for his knowledge of and passion for small business, he gets our endorsement.

His challenger, Lu Bauer, is no less passionate. Honest and caring to the bone, Bauer is passionate for the average Mainer trying to just get by. Unfortunately, her answer to many social ills is larger government. She supports state-run universal health care as something we need to strive for. Universal health care is noble, but not when it’s run by the government.

Bauer also calls TABOR “flawed” and “unconscionable.” One can argue its flaws, but it’s not “unconscionable.” TABOR is an effort to get Augusta to stop spending money at an exorbitant rate. Unconscionable would be to force irreversible cuts. TABOR allows inflation and population-growth increases. Also, communities can choose to increase their budgets if they want. That doesn’t sound “unconscionable.”

Gary Moore vs. Michael Shaw

No endorsement

It’s hard to choose between candidates in the race for District 102. Both candidates would work hard for Standish residents and represent their district well.

Gary Moore has served well the last two years. Although ill (but now completely recovered) and missing some votes during last session, Moore has played key roles on certain bills in Legislature.

One of Moore’s strong suits is that he is a moderate Republican. He represents the center in Maine politics. That alone makes him a pivotal vote in Augusta. He is fiscally conservative, but not so much so that he is clamoring for TABOR’s approval. (In fact, he is ambivalent about TABOR.) He went against his party and voted for the governor’s Dirigo Health program. A man who wants to focus on issues and debate the intellectual merits of issues and not cling to party leadership, Moore does his own thing in Augusta and should be respected for it.

As proof, Moore fought hard last session to raise the governor’s salary. We disagreed with Moore that the governor needed a salary increase since he already makes about double what the average Mainer earns. But in the politicking that ensued, Moore rose to the challenge and sparked a worthy debate.

While Democrat Michael Shaw is a political newcomer and seems to be a one-issue candidate, that issue is an important one: rail travel. Shaw, a conductor on the Amtrak Downeaster rail line, is trying to reactivate rail in the Lakes Region along the Mountain Division Railroad. It is a noble goal and one all Lakes Region representatives should work hard to make reality. Freight lines would stimulate the economy; commuter rail would reduce traffic and possibly pollution. And, as a whole, the project would add one more way for the Lakes Region to become a tourist and business destination. Shaw’s one issue is really many in one.

While ultimately against TABOR, Shaw says what is really needed is “tough legislators” who will tackle special interest groups and government bureaucracy to lower taxes. Saying he has a “working person’s perspective,” Shaw wants to streamline regulations. That’s admirable.

Both candidates clearly would represent the district well.

Mark Bryant (X) vs. Clayton Haskell

While Mark Bryant gets our nod for District 110, we acknowledge he has several unappealing stances and that his opponent has several attractive ones.

Bryant believes taxes are too high and that the legislature needs to do something about it. That’s admirable. However, while he says property taxes are too high, he is unclear about how to lower taxes, except to say he wants to broaden the tax base. Bryant does offer one solution: shifting more of the burden onto tourists and out-of-state property owners as a way to ease Mainers’ pain. While that may sound good to natives, it could impact tourism, the foundation of our economy. What Maine really needs – and what Bryant needs to champion – is reducing spending at the state level.

While he has his doubts about Dirigo Health, Bryant unfortunately wants to stick with the state-run system. That’s unfortunate. Much better would be to increase competition and let the market offer more choices to Maine workers.

Clayton Haskell may have no political experience at the state level, and may have switched parties prior to the election, but his promises to fight for small businesses and lower taxes are very intriguing. Haskell also wants property taxed on current use, not highest and best use. These make him an attractive candidate.

But Bryant has represented his constituents well. He is a dedicated representative. Some would say he eats, drinks and breathes state government and his role representing the people of East Windham and West Gray. He’s devoted and works hard.

But what tips the scales in Bryant’s favor has to be the common-sense bills he’s supported the last two years. He sponsored legislation that helped ease the burden of returning solders who must immediately report back to work. His bill allowed them up to 72 hours to report to work. That’s common-sense legislation.

Bryant also sponsored a bill to prohibit alcohol without liquid. AWOL, as it is known, allows users to ingest alcoholic vapors through a hose. If Bryant can work to make further laws like these, Maine and the Lakes Region would be well served.