Previous Offices Held
Falmouth Town Council (2006-2009 and 2024 – present.)
Top Three Priorities
We need more housing and we have to make it more efficient and economical to build and buy it. We need electricity that is affordable, is generated with the least amount of impact on our natural resources and is delivered in a manner that is transparent and understandable. We need to strike the balance at the municipal level of providing good schools for our children, necessary services for our community and ensuring that the costs of those services are reasonable and fair.
Why are you running?
First, I love Maine, and have since I first crossed the Piscataqua River Bridge in 1982. Second, now is not the time to be on the sidelines criticizing those working in Augusta. I want to be part of addressing the challenges facing Maine today. I have experience with the Legislature, experience to know progress is made when people are willing to work together even if they don't agree on every issue, when results are more important than posturing and when the work is done with humility.
What is one way Maine is on the right track? What is one way the state is on the wrong track?
Maine is on the right track in providing incentives to families and businesses to use energy more efficiently. It saves those families and businesses money and it is consistent with Maine's commitment to reduce pollution. Maine is on the wrong track in how it continues to rely on a gas tax to fund infrastructure. Reliance on the gas tax in its current form doesn't come close to meeting the needs, setting up a repeating funding battle at the end of every legislative session.
As one of several dozen legislators in your chamber, how would you make a measurable difference for your constituents?
I think the biggest difference I could make is to work with Republican legislators toward solutions that are durable and people can rely on when they are planning a life for their family or opening a new business. That may be naive but it is something the people of Maine deserve to expect from their representatives.
Surveys show the economy is the top concern of voters. What is a specific proposal addressing Maine voters’ economic anxieties that you’d work to make law?
This short survey doesn't provide the room to talk about the healthcare crisis facing many Maine families and businesses today but is certainly the one issue more than any other that more residents I've talked to at their doors have raised with me. And that anxiety isn't just about their own situations but that of their parents and children. MaineCare was never meant to be a permanent solution to address that anxiety and the work to improve that program must continue.