Political experience

This race is my first attempt at entering politics.

Why are you running for office?

I am running because I am committed to my hometown of Sanford-Springvale and to the State of Maine, and I want to help make life better for everyone in my town and my state.

Growing up I spent a lot of time at my family business, Springvale Nurseries Garden Center, and I got to know the connections and relationships that make up community life in a Maine town. Now, as an adult, I’m proud to carry on the tradition of the business and our place in the fabric of Sanford-Springvale.

I am running for State Representative because I want to take that further. I want to do more for my community by being a strong voice for us in Augusta. I think that I have the experience to do that well. I have worked with customers, run a small business, completed a graduate degree, and worked on economic development projects with the Peace Corps in Africa. I can use what I have learned over my life to do a great job for Sanford and Springvale.

• 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?
  • No

    I believe that replacing the income tax with higher sales taxes is simply unfair. It would force working-class Mainers to pay for a larger share of the State budget than they do already, while letting wealthier folks pay less. It could also lead to many towns raising their property taxes, since state aid to towns might be cut if state tax revenue drops too much. In my hometown of Sanford-Springvale, I hear all the time from people who are worried about our high property taxes, or even thinking seriously about moving out of town because of them. Many of them are retirees on fixed incomes, and eliminating income taxes won’t help these folks much, or at all, while raising their property taxes might make it harder for them to stay in their homes. How can we ask working people and retirees to pay for more of state and town budgets while asking wealthy residents to pay less? It would be deeply unfair.

• Background Checks: Do you support background checks for privately sold firearms in Maine?
  • Yes

    I think that if we require background checks for gun sales by licensed gun dealers, then it makes sense to require them for gun sales by everyone else. I wish it weren’t necessary, and I know it rubs a lot of Mainers the wrong way because in general we have a very responsible community of gun owners in this state. But as long as common-sense exceptions are made for sales between family members, for lending guns to friends for hunting, and for self-defense, then I believe it is worth it to keep guns away from criminals and to save innocent peoples’ lives.

• 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

    I am a manager of a small family business, so I understand both sides of this issue. But I think that raising the minimum wage gradually, and to a reasonable level of $12 an hour, is a good idea. $7.50 is very low, and frankly, at my business, we couldn’t hire quality help for that rate. I believe that a higher minimum wage will be good for both workers and employers, since workers will take home more money and at $12 an hour, employers will expect more productivity from employees. I do have concerns about there being no exception in the ballot question for tipped workers. It seems like that could lead to a lot of disruption in the restaurant industry as owners try to decide how to accommodate the increased labor costs.

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

    It seems to me that regulating and taxing marijuana for recreational use would have a couple of different benefits for Maine. First, it could free up law enforcement resources that could then be used to go after traffickers of heroin and other opioids, which are far more destructive to people’s lives than marijuana. Second, it could create a new agricultural and tourism industry for Maine similar to what has happened in Colorado and Washington state. Third, that industry could be a source of tax revenue for the state, allowing us to ease the tax burden on working Mainers. For these reasons, I think legalization is worth a try.

• 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?
  • I think that more absolutely needs to be done. Many people in Sanford have described to me the impact that the heroin epidemic has had on their neighborhoods and it has been stunning. My own observations in town have been that our police are working furiously to catch heroin dealers and get the drug off of our streets. They should be commended for their hard work. In addition to giving them the resources that they ask for, we should be making sure that treatment is available for anyone who wants to get off these drugs, and most importantly, we should be putting resources into prevention, educating our kids and young adults so that they don’t get hooked on them in the first place. When we do that, and it might take a while, demand will drop and there will be fewer and fewer dealers bringing them into Maine in the first place.