Karen Gerrish

Republican

Candidate’s Links:

Office Sought: Representative – District 20
Age: 48
Occupation: Teacher
Education: Elementary Education at the University of Southern Maine
Family: one grown son, Ryan, age 23
Hometown: Lebanon

Political experience

I served on the town of Lebanon’s Budget Committee from 2009-2011. I served on the Lebanon Board of Selectmen from 2011-2014 and as Chairwoman for the last year. I was elected State Representative in 2014 for District 20, Lebanon, Acton and a portion of Shapleigh and am just finishing up my first term.

Why are you running for office?

I am running for re-election to the Maine House to continue the good work that was done in the 127th Legislature. My goal is to make a much better life for my students in hopes that they choose to stay here in Maine when they grow up. I favor smaller government, less taxes, less regulation strangling Maine businesses, and more personal freedoms. I also would like to see us put our elderly, veterans and truly needy first with more welfare reforms. There are too many people not working that could be. There is a great deal of pride that comes from having a paycheck.

• Income Tax: Gov. LePage would like to lower Maine’s income tax rate and eventually eliminate it, by increasing the state’s sales tax and expanding it across a broader range of goods and services. Do you support this proposal?
  • Yes

    I am in complete support of continuing to lower income tax here in Maine. It essentially means giving working Mainers a pay raise with their own money. I am not in favor of expanding the sales tax as I feel it could do more harm than good for the business community. Our neighboring NH has no sales tax and we will continue to see Mainers flock to NH in droves to shop if we raise it. We should work to lower the overall tax burden on Maine people and businesses by reducing the size and cost of state government.

• Background Checks: Do you support background checks for privately sold firearms in Maine?
  • No

    It is already unlawful for anyone who cannot legally possess a firearm to do so. Increasing background checks does nothing and means nothing to criminals who never follow the law. They will either purchase on the black market or steal or often times have a third party who would easily pass a background check purchase a firearm for them. Increasing background checks only has an effect on law abiding Mainers exercising their Second Amendment rights.

• Minimum Wage:
  In light of the ballot question facing voters this fall, do you support raising the state’s minimum wage from $7.50 to $12 an hour by 2020?
  
  • No

    Being from a small business owning family, I believe the employer knows what his/her employees are worth. Whereas we pay much higher than the minimum wage now, I can foresee how some businesses will want to pay an employee a higher wage but not be able to afford to as they are forced to pay, say, unskilled teenagers more than they are worth per hour. We are a tourism state with thousands of food service jobs. Should this increase go through, the tip credit will be gone. If I was a waitress I would much rather earn $20-$30/hour with my tips than $12/hour. This is a detriment to all small business in Maine. I suspect we will see an increase in unemployment should this pass.

• Marijuana: Do you support legalization of marijuana for recreational use?
  • No

    I am strongly opposed to legalizing recreational marijuana. This bill was before my committee and I successfully fought it on the House floor in debate. I am well aware of the buyers’ remorse in states such as Colorado where they have seen an outright epidemic of childhood ingestion of marijuana with a 50% increase of emergency room visits for children under age 12. Marijuana related hospitalizations have also increased 82% since legalization. Lastly, the number of THC infused edible exposure calls increased 400%. I think Maine people need to be careful what they wish for on this one. Is this really the message we want to send our kids, that marijuana use is ok and legal? We already have enough impaired drivers on the road. As a mother and teacher, I am completely against this referendum.

• Addiction/Overdoses: Do you believe the state is doing enough in response to the rise in heroin/opiate addiction and overdoses? If not, what else should be done?
  • During the 127th Legislature we passed a much needed 3.7 million, bipartisan comprehensive drug bill. In my opinion it was just a start. It added 10 MDEA agents to deal with the trafficking. Part of it included a detox center and significant funds for treatment and recovery. This is a crisis of epidemic proportions. I think every Mainer knows someone affected by the opioid/heroin crisis. We must do more in the area of educating our youth about the dangers of drugs. We certainly need more treatment and recovery centers throughout the state. There simply are not enough. Lastly, sentencing for drug dealers and anyone peddling this poison must be strict. That fact that we could not get Democrats in committee to vote in favor of making it a felony to possess heroin during a crisis of this proportion was more than disheartening to me. Possession, sales, trafficking, regardless, there is nothing good to come out of heroin other than ruining one’s life.