In my 30 years in the communications business, I’ve had the opportunity to interact with many elected officials, including many state legislators. Some have been impressive, some not so much.

The impressive ones have ample native intelligence, really care about trying to make things better for this city, and most of all, display a passion for outstanding constituent service. It’s also become clear to me that a representative’s fellow lawmakers have a pretty good handle on who is a good legislator and who is not. They know who puts in the work. The up-and-coming stars get noticed.

I can report that, according to my conversations with some of his peers, Rep. Martin Grohman of Biddeford gets extremely high marks for his capabilities. He sits on the Energy, Utilities and Technology committee, which tackles complex legislation. The scouting report I get is that Grohman is right on top of things, and as a result, people in Biddeford are being well served in Augusta. He has “juice.”

This is consistent with my personal experience. Whenever I have contacted him on this or that issue, he is particularly responsive. He has also displayed one more characteristic to me that, in this day and age, is very rare. He never speaks ill of anyone. I have found him to be mature, measured and always very charitable in his assessment of others, even his political opponents.

It sure would be nice if we could see more of that. That’s why I hope Biddeford voters re-elect Rep. Grohman to the Maine House of Representatives.

Mark Robinson
Biddeford