James Hamper, R

Age: 59

Address: 1023 King St., Oxford

Occupation: Carpenter

Political Experience: Maine House (2004-2012), Maine Senate (2012-2014)

Q: How do you plan to make a difference for your communities if elected to the Legislature?

A: For most of my adult life I have been in service to my community. This concept of service was not necessarily taught directly at home but it was something that was instilled in me by my church involvement as an adult. That is where I learned the value of service to a community.

The learning and training process began almost four decades ago. It was there that I learned to serve the individual as well as the group and, from there, the community at large. This is a path that I have traveled with my wife of 38 years. We have served, both as a couple and as individuals, from Scouting to town planning boards, from budget committees to hospital boards, and as a family we have raised two adopted children and have hosted 14 AFS foreign exchange students.

My 10 years in the Legislature have simply been an extension of the attitude of service to the community. Even though the Legislature only convenes for part of the year the work of the Legislator is 365 days a year, you are available to serve the community every day.

I have seen those who come to Augusta with an agenda that gets crushed by the system along with the individual, and then never seen again. The Legislature is not a place for personal agendas, for that is driven by one’s ego. Once elected, you are part of a group of 190 persons who have to work together; a community. This community makes laws for the entire state not just for their district, each law passed is statewide and affects the whole state of Maine. So by all rights, the community we serve is the entire state.

How do I plan on making a difference in my community? I plan to continue my lifetime of service. I plan to stay active and involved in my local community and demonstrate to those watching what service to the community is and hopefully in this process teach others the values of service so that those who come behind me will have found me faithful. This is the legacy I hope to leave.

Rose Rogers-Wells, D

Address: Brownfield

Occupation: Charge Nurse, Fryeburg Health Care Center

Political experience: Since I was a teenager I have been involved in many non-partisan and partisan groups. I have marched with, supported and worked with groups fighting for civil rights, women’s equality, senior citizen and child, health care and educational advocacy, various animal and environmental groups and others like Get Out the Vote and Disabled American Veterans.

Q: How do you plan to make a difference for your communities if elected to the Legislature?

A: I have and will continue to listen to the concerns of those I represent and work towards their agenda in Augusta, not mine, and not for any particular ideology. We all want the same things: Better health, good jobs, education and training opportunities for whatever our skills, income we can live on, and a clean environment.

My personal and professional experience is wide and varied. With 40 years experience in nursing, I know the changes needed to make our health-care system work for everyone. I have a bachelor’s degree in business. I worked for my grandfather’s small business as a young girl. I have experience in retail, financial, sales, service and technology industries on a corporate level. I worked in the editorial department of the Wall Street Journal when I was in college and have an in-depth understanding of how politics affects our economy.

I raised four sons and know firsthand what our young people are up against in our current economy with so few good paying jobs and the outrageous cost of higher education. My own son, brothers and nephews are all veterans. I know what issues affect them as well. I am also a trained paralegal and understand how laws affect the average person.

In my current job and in many other aspects of my life I have been in a position of responsibility for making decisions that will affect lives in a positive or negative way. I work hard at understanding the facts, not just beliefs, and evaluating the impact of taking a path before moving forward.

I am an independent thinker and I have aligned with the Democratic Party because right now they are the only party that is actively working at improving the lives of people on Main Street, not just Wall Street. I will work hard toward effecting policies that will improve the lives of those I represent in District 19.

James Hamper, RRose Rogers-Wells, D