Michael McClellan, the Republican incumbent from Raymond, is running for re-election against Jessica Fay, a Democrat from Raymond, to the Maine House of Representatives District 66. District 66 covers parts of Casco, Poland and Raymond.

McClellan, 56, is the executive director of Maine State Independent Living Council, and has served three terms as a representative. He is married with two grown children.

Fay, 48, is the owner of Maine Lakes Wedding and Event Florist in Raymond. She is a former volunteer and trustee of the Raymond Village Library and is involved in the Raymond Revitalization Committee. She is married “with four labrador retrievers, ages 16 1/2 to 1 1/2,” she said.

McClellan said one of the biggest problems facing the Legislature is that the legislative process “is not efficient or especially productive,” he said.

Because legislators run every two years, they may focus on projects they can complete in the short term instead of having more long-range plans, he said.

If elected, McClellan said he will focus first on the bigger issues facing the state, including education and health care.

McClellan said an issue of importance to his constituents is education, and specifically the burden placed on school systems by unfunded mandates.

“We’ve made schools everything in our society,” McClellan said. “They’re social workers, doctors, and transportation systems. We’ve put all these responsibilities on schools and get angry when they don’t teach kids. It’s a real societal problem.”

McClellan said he would look to cut some of the state’s unfunded mandates for schools to help save money.

McClellan said the state has sufficient funding for opiate addiction programs.

“It’s just a matter of prioritizing,” he said, adding that the Legislature has made cuts to the budget and “at some point you have to start re-investing in health care for the addicted.”

He also said faith-based treatment options have been shown to be effective, and that the Legislature should look to these kinds of programs as an example.

He will not support legislative action against Gov. Paul LePage in response to a voicemail the governor left for Rep. Drew Gattine-D Westbrook, in August.

“My reason is because he has done it to himself,” McClellan said, pointing out that he has lost the support of many Republicans.

“His behavior gets in the way, and it causes people not to want to work with him, and to support him as they did in the past,” McClellan said.

McClellan supports Donald Trump for president.

McClellan is voting no to all of the citizen referendum questions, because “I think they’re all written poorly,” he said.

He is voting no on Question 1, to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes, because of the drug’s effects on the brain. He said marijuana use among kids and young adults can dull their senses and make them less motivated.

McClellan said Question 2, to levy a 3 percent income tax on income at $200,000 or above to fund education, will cause people to leave Maine, and will hurt small business owners who claim taxes as individuals.

He is voting no on Question 3, which would require background checks for private gun sales, because the bill is poorly written, he said, and infringes on gun-owner rights.

He is against Question 4, to raise the minimum wage from $7.50 per hour to $12 per hour by 2020, because it will hurt businesses, he said.

“If we want to raise wages, we should take taxes off of businesses, then they will pay people better wages,” he said.

McClellan said he does not support Question 5, ranked-choice voting, because it is unconstitutional, according to Maine Attorney General Janet Mills.

Ranked-choice voting would allow voters to rank candidates so ballots can be counted in rounds. If no candidate wins by a majority in the first round, the candidate with the least number of votes will be eliminated, and second- and third-choice votes will be taken into consideration to determine the winner.

He will “make a decision going into the polls” about Question 6, to appropriate $100 million in bonds for road projects. McClellan said he does not generally support bonding unless it’s an emergency measure.

Fay said a big problem facing the Legislature is “we need more folks in there who are willing to work in a bipartisan way to get things done.”

Fay said she is running in part because she wants to help foster a culture of bipartisanship.

When asked what is an issue of importance to her constituents, Fay said, “It’s not as simple as one issue. If I represent people in the community, I have to be able to support people on a whole bunch of issues.”

One problem she hears a lot about, she said, is property taxes, and “people worried about their ability to stay in their homes on fixed incomes.”

She also said childhood poverty and support for small businesses are important issues to constituents.

When asked how the Legislature should address opiate addiction in the state, Fay said state officials should look to fund a three-pronged approach – education, treatment and enforcement programs – to combat opiate addiction.

When asked whether she would support legislative action against Gov. LePage, Fay said, “I hope it won’t be the first thing the Legislature tackles.”

She said it would not be a good way to foster a spirit of bipartisanship in the Legislature

“I certainly condemn his comments,” she said. “I don’t believe that’s the way our leaders should talk or behave.”

Fay will be voting for Hillary Clinton in the presidential election.

Fay is voting no on Question 1 because the question is vaguely written, she said. She said she anticipates there will be “a lot of unintended consequences of (legalization).”

Fay said she will support Question 2, to fund public education. While some people have expressed concerns the money is not sufficiently earmarked for education, “the way I read the question, the money will go right to the classroom,” she said.

She said Maine public schools have some of the lowest paid teachers in the country and are facing teacher shortages, so “providing more funding for classrooms is really important to me.”

Fay said she does not support Question 3 but would like to see stronger background check laws in place.

“This is a hard one for me,” said Fay, “because I feel we really need to keep weapons out of the hands of bad guys, but I’ve spoken to folks that I respect about their concerns with transfer between known parties, and I think it would be a real burden.”

Fay said she supports Question 4, to increase the minimum wage.

“Adults working full time should be able to earn enough to feed their families,” she said.

She will vote yes on Question 5 because people are frustrated with the political system, “and I think this would be a way to change that,” she said.

Fay said she supports Question 6, because “we haven’t invested nearly enough in our infrastructure. If we’re going to grow the economy, we need to invest in infrastructure.”

Mike McClellan

Jessica Fay