By J.W. Oliver
A 27-year-old Damariscotta resident and former Republican state committeewoman will challenge a first-term Newcastle legislator to represent District 90 in the Maine House of Representatives.
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Anna Morkeski (Photo courtesy Anna Morkeski) |
Anna Morkeski, R-Damariscotta, will run against Rep. Michael G. “Mick” Devin, D-Newcastle. Henry Simmons, R-Nobleboro, also filed as a primary candidate, but has since withdrawn.
House District 90 consists of Bremen, Bristol, Damariscotta, Monhegan, Newcastle, and parts of Nobleboro and South Bristol.
Morkeski explained her decision to run in an email interview with The Lincoln County News.
“The principles of small government, individual responsibility and personal liberty are energizing young Mainers who are increasingly disillusioned by failing big-government policies,” Morkeski said.
“I see the Maine GOP as providing our state with an opportunity to return to sound economic policies by being inclusive of young leaders and voters who are concerned about the burden of government debt and the devaluation of the dollar by the Federal Reserve System,” she said.
Morkeski holds elective office within the local party as the secretary of the Damariscotta Republican Committee. She was the vice chairwoman of the committee and the chairwoman of its delegation to the Maine Republican Party Convention in 2012.
She was elected to represent Lincoln County on the Maine Republican State Committee at the convention.
Morkeski resigned from her positions as state committeewoman and Damariscotta vice chairwoman in September 2012 to accept a position as field coordinator for the John Birch Society in Maine.
The society educates voters about “classical liberal ideas such as unhampered market economies, constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion and press, and seeking international peace through genuine free trade,” Morkeski said.
The society holds other beliefs well outside the conservative mainstream.
For example, the society believes there is a conspiracy to merge the U.S. with Canada and Mexico to form a North American Union and move toward a world government.
The wealthy Rockefeller family is among the parties to this “satanic conspiracy,” the society’s CEO told The New York Times in 2009.
The society opposes Agenda 21, a 1992 resolution by the United Nations to promote sustainable development around the world. Agenda 21 “is the UN’s plan to establish control over all human activity,” according to the society’s website.
Morkeski was active in anti-Agenda 21 efforts as field director for the society. She was laid off in April 2013 because the society “was cutting back on state coordinators for financial reasons,” she said.
She returned to local party office when she was elected secretary of the Damariscotta Republican Committee at the town caucus in February. She was also elected as a delegate to the state convention again.
Morkeski described her personal political philosophy in the email interview.
“I believe we have a duty to promote the principles of limited government so that the rights of the minority can be protected from the tyranny of the majority,” Morkeski said.
“I believe the role of government is to protect the liberties of the individual,” she said. “While the federal government is a necessary component of our republican system, its current behemoth bureaucracy is doing Americans more harm than good.
“This is an important time, where state governments need to step up and protect their citizens from federal overreaches of power.”
Morkeski also outlined steps to improve the state economy.
“Relieving the regulatory burden on Maine businesses and farms will help the most needy among our population as well as help create an environment more conducive to retaining our younger population who need more employment opportunities,” she said.
“The Federal Reserve has no plans to curb its expansion of the money supply, so we have to expect the recession to continue or the value of the dollar to collapse,” she said. “Maine can take steps to help shield us from those effects, and in general increase prosperity in Maine by becoming less dependent on federal policies.”
Morkeski is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
She has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in management and a Bachelor of Science degree with a focus on biological systems and entomology, a branch of zoology dealing with insects.
She currently volunteers at River Arts, a nonprofit art-education center, gallery and performing-arts space in Damariscotta.
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Rep. Mick Devin |
Devin, the incumbent, hopes to win a second consecutive term in the House.
Devin currently represents House District 51, which consists of Bristol, Damariscotta, Edgecomb, Monhegan, Newcastle and South Bristol. The changes to the district are the result of reapportionment in 2013.
Devin sits on the Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee and the Newcastle Shellfish Committee.
He has a Master of Science degree in marine biology from the Florida Institute of Technology and works in his field at the Darling Marine Center in South Bristol.
His resume includes 28 years of military service. He was in the U.S. Navy from 1984 to 1992 and the U.S. Navy Reserve from 1992 until 2012, retiring with the rank of commander.
He continues to volunteer as a blue and gold officer with the U.S. Naval Academy. Blue and gold officers assist students with the admissions process.
Devin lives in Newcastle with his wife, Laura Devin, an art teacher at Woolwich Central School. The couple has two adult sons, Coorain and Chauncey.
The race is Devin’s third for the seat.
Newcastle Republican Jon McKane defeated Devin in 2010, receiving almost 60 percent of the vote to win his fourth consecutive term.
McKane could not run in 2012 due to term limits. Devin edged out Damariscotta Republican Buzz Pinkham, taking just shy of 51 percent of the vote to win the seat.
