Anna Morkeski (J.W. Oliver photo) |
By J.W. Oliver
Damariscotta Republican Anna Morkeski would advocate for local control and small government if she wins election to the Maine House of Representatives on Nov. 4.
Morkeski is challenging Rep. Mick Devin, D-Newcastle, in House District 90. The district includes Bremen, Bristol, Damariscotta, Monhegan, Newcastle, and parts of Nobleboro and South Bristol.
Morkeski, 27, currently serves as the secretary of the Damariscotta Republican Committee.
She has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in management and a Bachelor of Science degree in biological systems and entomology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She volunteers at the Damariscotta nonprofit River Arts.
Morkeski would seek to “return a lot of control and decision-making into the hands of people who live in Maine,” she said.
She supports “food sovereignty,” which would remove certain restrictions on the sale of meat and raw milk by small farms.
“We’ve lost all this access to local food because we’re following these federal regulations that don’t make any sense for Maine,” she said.
She would support a “right-to-work” bill. Right-to-work laws allow workers to opt out of union dues and membership, including workers who benefit from the union’s negotiations on their behalf.
Morkeski believes “a lot more businesses would be willing to set up shop in Maine” if it were a right-to-work state. “I don’t think anyone should be forced to pay union dues,” she said. “No one should be forced to be in a union.”
Right-to-work would actually benefit unions and their members because it would force unions to cater to their members, Morkeski said.
“As of right now, they can get away with following whatever political agenda they feel like instead of what is actually best for their members,” she said.
Morkeski does not believe the state government should establish a minimum wage.
“I believe the minimum wage should be set by the free market,” Morkeski said. “I think when the government is allowed to set the minimum wage, it may actually be set below a reasonable market value.”
“I don’t believe in there being a minimum wage, but I do believe people should be getting paid more,” Morkeski said.
An increase in the minimum wage could create “a drastic rise in the cost of goods,” which could hurt the Maine economy, Morkeski said. “We need people to be able to afford to buy products we’re creating in Maine,” she said.
Morkeski believes Maine residents should obtain health care through the free market. A single-payer health care system “is very dangerous” and would eventually lead to rationing, Morkeski said.
“The state can’t afford to give everyone the treatment they need … they will be forced to start choosing people they can treat – rationing – and I don’t believe in that whatsoever,” she said.
Morkeski has “mixed feelings” about recent welfare reform measures.
“These are people who are already struggling to make it, so putting these additional restrictions on their life just because a few people have abused the system, I don’t think makes sense,” Morkeski said.
Morkeski believes the state needs to treat the root cause of poverty, just as it needs to treat the root cause of heroin and prescription drug abuse.
Maine youth “need opportunities. They need a future. They need something to look forward to. They need a way of making real money,” she said. “Solving the causes of those abuses will do us a lot more good than just trying to treat the symptoms of those abuses.”
As of 2012, Maine health care providers were writing prescriptions for a category of opioid painkillers at the highest rate in the nation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Somehow, we have to get doctors to stop prescribing that stuff at the rate they are and at the dosage they are and for the reasons they are,” Morkeski said. “It’s just way too easy to get your hands on.”
Morkeski favors a hands-off approach to marijuana, comparing the sale or trade of small amounts of marijuana between friends and neighbors to the informal sale or trade of dairy products or produce.
“I don’t see why growing a little bit of pot in your backyard should be any different,” she said.
Morkeski said she opposes any expansion of background check requirements for firearms purchases.
Morkeski described herself as a moderate. “On the extreme right you have anarchy, no government, and on the extreme left you have fascism (and) communism, both forms of total government, so politically I really do consider myself a moderate,” she said.
Morkeski was a field director for the John Birch Society from September 2012 to April 2013.
The society’s mission is “To bring about less government, more responsibility, and – with God’s help – a better world by providing leadership, education, and organized volunteer action in accordance with moral and constitutional principles,” according to its website.
The society believes the U.N. has a plan in place “to establish control over all human activity” through Agenda 21, a 1992 U.N. resolution to promote sustainable development, according to its website. The society also believes the U.S. government intends to merge with Canada and Mexico to form the North American Union.
Morkeski said she stands by these positions.
“Everything I encountered in the John Birch Society was in line with my own values about promoting constitutional government, preserving constitutional government, and educating voters about constitutional government and how we’re getting away from that and how we need to bring it back,” Morkeski said. “I never encountered anything in their literature that was not presenting those principles.”
Morkeski has the endorsements of the National Rifle Association and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, she said.
Away from the campaign trail, she enjoys the outdoors, particularly birdwatching, hiking, and swimming. “I studied entomology in school, so I really like bugs and plants,” she said. She also likes to cook and make desserts, and enjoys genealogy research.