Eight candidates for seats in the Maine House of Representatives met Oct. 12 at the Mobius community center for a free-flowing discussion and debate of health care, energy, and other issues facing the state.
Sherwood Olin, editor of The Lincoln County News, moderated the debate and opened by stating the public perceived the legislature to be “a mess” and asking candidates why their constituents should vote for them.
“Our spending is out of control,” Frank “Linc” Sample, (R-Boothbay Harbor, District 61) said. “I want to tackle our spending.”
Bruce MacDonald (D-Boothbay), the incumbent and Sample’s opponent in the District 61 race, said spending is not out of control. “I reject that premise,” MacDonald said. “The state is a big and complex operation… we’re trying to become as efficient as possible.”
“We try to make things better every day and often we fail,” Les Fossel (R-Alna, District 53 incumbent) said. “Welcome to the human race.”
Jon McKane (R-Newcastle, District 51 incumbent) objected to MacDonald’s portrayal of state government and said it is, indeed, a mess. McKane said the state uses accounting “gimmicks” to make the budget appear balanced.
“The $500 million cut in the budget has pretty much been a shift down to property taxpayers,” McKane said.
The remaining candidates also chose to address financial matters.
“There’s going to have to be cuts made, there’s no doubt about that,” Mick Devin (D-Newcastle, District 51 challenger) said.
“The federal government is so far in debt that the amount they’ve historically given to the states will probably be a lot less,” Mark Berger (D-Waldoboro, District 50) said.
“Eight years ago, [Maine] had a $1 billion deficit,” Dana Dow (R-Waldoboro, District 50) said. “Today, we have a $1 billion deficit.”
The candidates tackled specific ideas for cuts in spending next, beginning with Dow, who referenced a recent Brookings report commissioned by GrowSmart Maine. “For every dollar the other states spend in welfare and Medicaid, we spend $2.10,” Dow said.
Dow also said “too many small towns have their own fire equipment,” but the candidates’ focus remained on health care – both on Maine’s current system and the implications of recent federal reforms.
“We’ve got to bring MaineCare towards the national average,” McKane said. “That would save hundreds of millions right off the bat.”
McKane outlined several areas for potential cuts. “We don’t have to provide glasses for every family member every year,” he said. “There’s no copay with MaineCare. There’s no extra cost to see a specialist.”
McKane also attacked the state employees union contract, particularly the health care aspect of the agreement. “It’s Cadillac coverage. It’s expensive and we can’t pay for it all,” he said.
Fossel said the education system has “too much middle management [and] too much administration.” Fossel, Berger, Devin and McKane debated the merits of privatizing various aspects of government, including health care.
“If you look at Switzerland, Switzerland has a 100 percent private system,” Fossel said. “Their costs are half of our costs,” he said, and Swiss citizens enjoy longer, healthier lives.
Leola Roberts (D-Alna), Fossel’s challenger in District 53, said Maine needs to consider health from a different perspective, instead of just trying to decide how to pay for medical care.
Roberts criticized federal corn subsidies and spoke about a healthy diet rich in local, natural products as a method to promote better health and improve the area’s economy.
“Maine’s local food, Maine’s sense of place is dependent on local agriculture,” Roberts said. “We don’t have that $4 billion subsidy.”
McKane said market regulations in Maine hamper competition and defended a bill he sponsored to “open up the insurance markets in New England.”
“I don’t know why this state insists on protecting Anthem’s monopoly,” McKane said, referring to the insurance giant. McKane also objected to Maine rules that require “young, healthy people [to pay] almost as much as old, sick people.”
Candidates also responded to audience questions, including one about energy.
“We’re coming to the end of the fossil fuel age, probably in my grandchildren’s’ lifetime,” MacDonald said.
Much of the debate centered on wind power, with Berger emerging as a strong advocate. “The cost of oil is highly variable and there’s no reason to think it isn’t going to continue to rise,” Berger said.
“If we don’t excel at developing clean energy, we will be buying clean energy from the Chinese,” Berger said. “We will be going from being held hostage by OPEC [the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries] for all these years to being held hostage by the Chinese.”
“Maine has a tremendous opportunity to create a lot of jobs manufacturing wind turbines,” Berger said. “Maine could be a leader – maybe the leader – in offshore wind energy.”
“It’s not about being green, it’s about building the most inexpensive energy for the future,” MacDonald added.
Sample voiced support for a more inclusive approach to energy, including consideration of wind and tidal power as well as hydropower. “We could supply power for half of Piscataquis County from Moosehead Lake,” Sample said. “We need to attack on all fronts.”
Devin, who is a marine biologist, denounced the use of hydropower. “Every time you put up a dam you ruin the ecosystem of that river,” he said. “If we depended on hydro tonight, the whole state would be dark.”
Devin did, however, appear to agree with Sample regarding the best approach to the energy issue. “We need to sit down and logically, systematically, rigorously look at every kind of energy, including nuclear energy,” Devin said.
Dow, a former chemistry teacher, said Maine’s uneven ocean floor contains pockets of methane gas that will complicate any effort to establish offshore wind farms. Dow did, however, offer a tongue-in-cheek endorsement of nuclear power.
“The French, those nice socialists over there, get 60-70 percent of their power from nuclear power,” Dow said.
Amy Cookson asked the final audience question. “My cousins and I went to college and many of us have graduate degrees,” Cookson said. While Cookson’s parents’ generation worked in mills and factories, Cookson said she wants a different kind of job market – a job market for young, highly educated professionals. “What are you going to do to create jobs for my generation?” she asked.
Sample said the state needs to continue to create jobs in research and development and biotechnology. Roberts said the state needs to expand the availability of high-speed Internet service, crucial to businesses but unavailable throughout much of rural Maine.
McKane, staying on message, spoke in favor of deregulation. “We continue to make laws in this state that are detrimental to our businesses,” he said. Multiple candidates said Maine’s natural resources and quality of life will attract individuals and businesses.
Devin and Dow, meanwhile, said they want to reclaim the blue-collar manufacturing jobs lost in recent years. “I’m not giving up on manufacturing,” Dow said. “The only way you create wealth is to export more than you import.”
“We need to make a commitment to get back the seafood processing jobs that went over the border to Canada,” Devin said.
Although the debate, at times, was passionate – including a spat over the use of the term Obamacare to describe federal health care reform – the candidates remained civil throughout and each candidate arrived early and stayed late to meet and greet audience members.
Election Day is Nov. 2. Absentee ballots are currently available. Call the local town office for details.
