{"id":12543,"date":"2026-09-25T19:07:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/samuel-cofone\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T12:31:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T12:31:00","slug":"samuel-cofone","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/samuel-cofone\/","title":{"rendered":"Samuel Cofone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Previous Offices Held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First time running for office<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Top Three Priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Top priorities would be: 1. slow growth so that the infrastructure can catch up; 2. cut unnecessary spending of tax dollars; 3. make town government more transparent and hold town employees and officials accountable for their actions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Candidate did not respond to this question.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">What is the biggest challenge facing your town\/county? The biggest opportunity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The biggest challenge will be equitable spending cuts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">If you could change one thing about how the town\/county functions, what would it be and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I would like to see the town and school government run more efficiently and with better customer service.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Do you support more development \u2013 i.e. more housing construction and business building in your town\/county? Why or why not?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I would like to see a one-year pause on building \u2014 residential and commercial.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12793,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Samuel","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"J.","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Cofone","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":12443,"voter_guide_candidate_age":63,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Retired law enforcement, Downeaster Motel owner-operator","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"Married with three children who graduated from Scarborough schools. Own and operate Downeaster Motel in Scarborough.","voter_guide_candidate_education":"Graduated from Westbrook High School and Maine Criminal Justice Academy. Some college.","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1odyjMlloL_hQhIYg2sbi8kZUZYBliDS4","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","footnotes":""},"vg_party":[564],"vg_residence_municipality":[],"class_list":["post-12543","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_party-republican"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/candidate"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12544,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12543\/revisions\/12544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=12543"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=12543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}