Rachel Lyn Rumson

Democrat

Candidate’s Links:

Office Sought: Representative – District 67
Age: 44
Occupation: Innkeeper, Program Director, Consultant
Education: Master of Arts in Applied Behavioral Science, 2008 Bastyr University; Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology, 1996 University of Southern Maine; Diploma, Gorham High School 1990.
Family: One Partner, one child.
Hometown: Gorham

Political experience

My political experience started at home with my family. My parents and my siblings were always arguing. Today, I am a facilitator, I help engage people in the democratic process for the purpose of collaboration, coalition building, cooperating in business. I also serve on the Planning Board for the Town of Gray. I also served on two interim boards in the past few years. Once with the Greater Portland Community Land Trust and once with the Portland Tool Library. Before that I have also served as Program Director on the board of the Pacific Northwest Organizational Development Network and was a board member for my church.

Why are you running for office?

There are a lot of people like me that are not represented in politics. People are working pay-check to pay check, raising a family make a living, struggling to run small businesses. Some are caring for their aging parents. Some have student loans or other debt that keep them out of the market for homes and vehicles. Meanwhile we are nickel-ed-and-dime-ed twelve ways to Sunday. There are those whose retirement accounts drained because of mortgage fraud, who worry that their children and grandchildren will not have it as good as they did. There is real poverty and real addiction that leaves us all traumatized.

On Caucus day, in 2016, six people raised their hands to run for office! It was energizing, but I was not one of them. I followed the group of them into the side room to pick one to get behind. When I returned to my seat, my neighbor lit up and said. “I was going to tell you to raise you hand! You would be great!”. That was the turning point from complaining about the system to taking action. With the help of hundreds of residents in the district, I qualified to be a Clean Election Candidate. This has helped me to keep my focus on the people, not special interests.

• 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?
  • I pay State sales tax as a consumer and a small business owner. When I lived in Washington State there was no income tax. It was great to know that what you were earning was closer to what you were taking home. However, I have a lot of questions both about the Governors plans to eliminate the income tax in Maine, and also the structure of our revenue system overall. It seems draconian to raise already high sales taxes or to tax more things. It also seems great to free people from income tax. There are too many questions to say yes or no now.
• Background Checks: Do you support background checks for privately sold firearms in Maine?
  • Yes. We have right to bear arms being necessary to the security of a free state for a well regulated militia. It is a right. If someone is not allowed to carry due to a crime like a domestic violence, this law will prevent them from going to a gun show, or paying cash through a deal arranged on facebook to circumvent that law.I read the legislation and I am confident that my grandfathers gun can be given to my son and we don’t need background checks. If we planning a hunting trip and I can loan my gun to you without a trip to Howells for a background check.

    There is a lot of propaganda out there to ensure gun manufacturers unfettered access to the market. I remain opposed to registering guns. I do not need to have a massacre in our state to know that we must put forward some safeguards.

• 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?
  • Yes. If the minimum wage passes, and I am elected, I plan to work toward a low-profit exemption for farms. I also plan to encourage minimum wage earners to spend in the local economy with that increase. Our business owners are smart and they are able to see both self interest and community interest. This is the stimulus package of our dreams. We have too many holes in the bucket and we need to stem the follow of our money out of state. We also need to localize the economy to be resilient in the face of globalization. This is a leverage point that we should maximize.
• Marijuana: Do you support legalization of marijuana for recreational use?
  • Yes. I do support legalization. Jailing and criminal records to not stem the tide of drug use. It actually increases it. Further, it costs the taxpayer in facilities, enforcement and legal system. My vote on 1 however is no because of the design of it.My commitment to regenerative agriculture has more weight than decriminalization. There are entities from outside our state in both big agriculture and big pharma that are using this to corner a market at 60%, and waiting to lobby hard for control after the vote. The medical community is learning about the medicinal qualities, at a cottage-scale industry rate. That is what we need: cottage scale producers, not big money interests pushing candy-pot, and self-medication instead of prescribed medical uses. Ultimately, I will respect the voters and the Maine Constitution.
• 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?
  • As a psychologist, I understand addiction. A lack of connection fuels addictive behavior. This is also what makes relapses happen post recovery, leading to overdoses. Veterans in my town tell me that they come from patrolling the poppy fields in Afghanistan to find that their buddies are addicted to opiates. Mom’s tell me their kids got hooked on pills and when they could no longer afford them, they turned to street opiates. I see the problem as both a social issue and personal one.Yes, we need to give law enforcement the tools they need to stop opiate trafficking and we need to stop over-prescribing. I can get behind simple things like a longer time in jail for possession, so that the DEA can get the names of the dealers, or a program to safely empty the medicine cabinets of our homes. Do I think that we need to support treatment? Yes, I do, and we need to have post treatment pathways including productive engagement in the community. Treatment is a technical fix not a systemic problem. We have to do the culture work too.