Deborah Sanderson

Republican

Office Sought: Representative – District 88
Age: 53
Occupation: Lobster industry/State Representative
Education:Lake Region High School Graduate
Family: I live with my partner Steve and we have a blended family with 5 children
Hometown: Chelsea

Political experience

I’ve had the pleasure to represent the Citizens in my district for six years and would be honored to serve them for another two. In the last six years there have been policies put in place that have been beneficial to all Maine citizens and while sometimes the decisions are very hard to make, it has made a difference.
We would be remiss if we didn’t try to leave our state a better place for our children. A place where there is both economic opportunity and natural resources to fulfill recreational endeavors. Finding the balance between both is vital. Also, continuing to support policy decisions that have a positive impact on all Mainers such as lowering the income tax, removing outdated and ineffective regulatory requirements and most importantly, continuing to fight for appropriate levels of reimbursement to sustain services for our seniors, children and disabled citizens is a key issue I am passionate about.
I’ve also worked very hard on a few key initiatives; one in particular that has made an impact in so many people’s lives. Taking the lead on Maines Medical Marijuana program and working side by side with stakeholders and patients have resulted in Maine having the premier MMJ program in the nation. With the potential of Recreational adult use on the horizon, it’s important to me to continue serving and if Question 1 passes, help to ensure that implementation does not have a negative impact on our carefully crafted medical model.

Why are you running for office?

I believe we must do what we can to respond to the issues that impact the quality of life in our homes, communities, state, nation, and planet. I have learned from both my volunteer and professional experiences and have developed skills to help create positive change. I want to take this experience to our state government, to help it better respond to the needs of its citizens all across the economic spectrum.

• 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?
  • Other

    I fully support lowering and/or eliminating the income tax however, broadening the sales tax must be done carefully for two important reasons.
    1. We live right next to New Hampshire who has no sales tax and;
    2. Many of our citizens already fall into a zero income tax bracket. These citizens are lower income families and of course our seniors, many of whom live on very limited incomes. To broaden the sales tax on goods and services without careful thought about the impact to individuals who are trying to feed families or afford medicines and heating fuel on limited income could do more harm than good to Maine’s most vulnerable citizens

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

    I believe the laws we currently have in place are more than adequate to ensure safe gun sales. Every retail outlet and firearms deal that sells a firearm at a gun show already do background checks.
    Implementing more regulations on law abiding citizens is not going to stop the individual who would seek to acquire a firearm and do harm. It’s been reported that 70% of guns used to cause harm were obtained via legal sales with a background check.
    Question 3 may be trying to seem like it is simple and a common sense approach however; the details of this initiative are anything but simple and certainly have the potential to create a scenario where law abiding citizens may unknowingly commit a crime, putting their second amendment rights in jeopardy for the rest of their life; all without ever intending to do harm.

• 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

    Minimum wage is a starting point for unskilled labor and youth who are just entering the workforce. Question 2 has the potential to create several untended consequences such as; high unemployment for our youth, hardship for small business owners in the food service industry with the phase out of the tip credit.
    Another industry that could be put in jeopardy is health care. As a state, we are already under funding our nursing homes and home health agencies. Because of that it is difficult for them to recruit and retain a skilled, caring labor force to work in this field. Last year we were able to scrape together $4 million to try and adequately support home health services when a rate study indicated we were woefully underfunding them by $8 million per year. With an increase in the minimum wage and reimbursements such as they are, it will make it harder for this industry to be able to afford the number of workers needed to care for Maine citizens in need.

• Marijuana: Do you support legalization of marijuana for recreational use?
  • Other

    I have no strong stance either way on Question 1. My only concern is; should adult recreational use pass, Maine be very careful in the implementation of this law so as not to jeopardize our medical model which helps so many patients who choose to use a natural herb to help their chronic conditions vs. standard pharmaceuticals.
    I have been contacted by several patients who have run the gauntlet of standard drugs; especially for the few children who suffer from seizure disorders and MMJ that is high in CBD’s is the only medicine that helps their children live a normal, mostly seizure free life. A negative impact from legalization could mean the difference between just being alive or really living for these children.
    Caution during implementation should it pass is vitally important so we don’t follow in the steps of other states where legalization was devastating to the medical program.

• 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?
  • Currently we invest over $80 million a year in programs related to substance abuse. The question isn’t, “are we doing enough”? The question should be, “Are we doing enough of the right thing?” What’s been hard to track are the outcomes. I often hear, for every dollar invested we save $12. That’s a wonderful statement yet, every year the number of people suffering from addiction goes up as does the number of drug affected babies and human loss to this scourge.
    I believe everything should be on the table to fight this terrible trend in Maine. Medication assisted treatment that includes measures of outcome to show efficacy, faith based programs which have shown high rates of success in Bangor, investments in law enforcement to stop the flow into our state and I’m pinning great hopes that the opioid bill passed last spring addressing prescribing practices by physicians also has a positive impact.
    It’s heartbreaking to hear a young man share his story of addiction that started with a legal prescription at the age of 15 from a sports injury. Luckily, he’s a success story thanks to the faith based program in Bangor. He now speaks to youth about his experience.