Full name: Gary E. Plummer

Address: 248 Gray Road, Windham

Family: Married with two children and two grandchildren

E-mail: geplummer@aol.com

Gary Plummer is the Republican incumbent in House District 111, which encompasses Windham. The former longtime Cumberland County Commissioner has served two terms in the Legislature on the Criminal Justice and Public Safety committees.

A lifelong Windham resident, Plummer taught elementary school in Standish and Windham for 34 years. He is a founder of Windham Neighbors Helping Neighbors, and is currently active on the Cumberland County Civic Center Board of Trustees.

If Plummer is returned for another term to Augusta, he will work to jump start the Maine economy by cutting down on the red tape and taxes faced by businesses.

“We seem to be constantly regulating business and taxing business,” said Plummer.

The revenue flowing into Maine’s government is adequate to run the state, Plummer said, but the Legislature needs to prioritize spending better. He applauded Gov. Baldacci’s proposal to cut 10 percent from each department’s operating budget, though he wanted to look closely at the areas being cut. A budget freeze would eventually solve a lot of problems, he said.

“If we can just stop the spending increases that would help a lot of people,” he said.

Plummer wants to help direct state funds where they can do the most good. Most Windham residents are worried about rising heating costs this winter, and Plummer wants the state to find funds for the organizations that distribute heating assistance.

He also hopes to continue working with the Windham legislative delegation to get the worst parts of the River Road fixed. The road was slated for reconstruction four years ago, but it has been taken off the list.

“There are parts of River Road that are very, very dangerous,” he said.

Plummer’s 22 years as a Cumberland County Commissioner earned him the knowledge of county government that helped him take a lead role on jail consolidation. It will continue to inform his decisions on the Criminal Justice Committee, where he hopes to continue work on the sex offender registry system.

Plummer is proposing a three-tiered system that places the names of the worst offenders in an online database. Under his plan, the offenders in the first tier, those deemed not to be a danger, would be available to police but not to the public. The names of offenders in the middle tier would be available to the public upon request, he said.

Gary PlummerRep. Gary Plummer