Jeffrey Pierce, the owner of a residential construction business in the Midcoast for the past 27 years, is the Republican candidate for House District 53, which includes Arrowsic, Dresden, Georgetown, Phippsburg, part of Richmond, and Woolwich.
The executive director of Alewife Harvesters of Maine and the Maine Elver Fisherman’s Association has worked to preserve the alewife and elver fisheries. He said one of his goals as a legislator would be to support the working waterfront.
Pierce said, if elected, he would also work to keep Maine farms intact and solvent.
He would also like to see a reform of what he calls the “dysfunctional” regional school unit system so Maine could better educate children and lessen the costs that are draining town budgets.
Education is the biggest cost to the property taxpayer, Pierce said, and whether education funds are coming from the local taxpayer, the state, or the federal government, it all originates from the taxpayer.
“The whole budgetary process mechanism is a mess and needs to be reviewed,” he said.
Because of the additional costs, Pierce said he does not support expanding public pre-kindergarten throughout the district. He said statistics show that it does not work.
“It is an added cost to an already over-inflated school budget,” he said.
Pierce said raising the minimum wage to $10 per hour would raise the cost of goods and services. Minimum wage jobs are training jobs meant to start a person out into the job market, gain skills, and learn how to work, he said.
“It is a ‘feel good’ measure to help those on the bottom, but in reality, the best way to help the lower wage earners is having skills training and helping them get their GEDs so that they can get better jobs,” Pierce said.
Pierce said if the minimum wage was raised to $10 per hour, the people making $10 would want $12 per hour, the people making $12 would want $14, and so on.
“A product is only worth so much and that makes a job only worth so much,” Pierce said.
Encouraging skills training in schools in order to develop a more skilled workforce to choose from would be one way to bring more and better jobs to Maine, Pierce said.
Pierce also suggested working on the high cost of energy through increasing hydropower while promoting fish passage would make for a more attractive business climate.
The Affordable Care Act needs to be repealed and removed, Pierce said. The problem Pierce sees with it is that it is not beneficial to the working middle class.
“We get crucified,” Pierce said.
Although people below the poverty line get a good deal on health care under the program, he said, most middle-class Americans cannot afford the cost of a policy under the Affordable Care Act.
Pierce said he currently pays $480 a month for health insurance for he and his wife. He has unlimited major medical coverage and he and his wife have a $2,500 deductible.
Under the Affordable Care Act, Pierce said it would cost him $1,640 a month with a $10,000 deductible. He said the Affordable Care Act policy included services he and his wife would never use.
He supports welfare reform measures, including photo identification on electronic benefit cards, drug testing for welfare recipients with drug-crime convictions, and work requirements for work-capable adults without dependents.
“I also do not support giving welfare benefits to people in this country illegally. We have many citizens in need of services that are on waiting lists,” Pierce said.
Pierce supports Gov. Paul LePage’s proposal to add Maine Drug Enforcement Agency agents, District Court judges, prosecutors, and other personnel in order to combat drug crime.
He said to address drug issues in Maine, the focus should be on improving family structures, reducing drug dependency, and getting drug dealers off the streets.
Endorsed by the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine and the National Rifle Association, Pierce does not support universal background checks for firearms sales at gun shows and private sales.
“I do not need a background check to sell a firearm to a neighbor, friend, or relative,” Pierce said.
Pierce, 52, graduated from Cony High School in Augusta in 1981 and said he continues to pursue education in navigating the business climate in Maine.
For the past 25 years, Pierce has raised a family, built and maintained a solid, successful small business, and contributed to his community, he said.
Pierce, his wife, Ann, and their two sons, Ben, 24, and Zach, 23, have lived in Dresden for nearly 17 years.
