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Rep. Timothy Marks (D. Lobkowicz photo, LCN file) |
By John Maguire
Timothy I. Marks, D-Pittston, is finishing up his first term in the Maine House of Representatives serving District 53 (Alna, Dresden, Pittston and Wiscasset) and is seeking his second term in the House to represent the newly drawn District 87 (Alna, Wiscasset, Pittston, and Randolph).
The retired state trooper is currently a member on the Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety and serves on the Joint Standing Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Marks said his experience in Augusta for the past two years has, for the most part, been positive.
He was met with resistance from the Republican party on a number of issues (on jobs, guns and taxes, for example), and did not pass everything he had hoped for, but he also had some triumphant moments.
One bill he hoped would pass involved a discount on fines paid for traffic violations.
“As a state trooper, I wrote thousands of tickets,” he said. People would often appear in court to contest these violations, such as speeding or running a red light, hoping to avoid paying fines. This, Marks said, uses up a lot of the court’s time and resources.
His bill, LD 190, would give a 10 percent discount to those who agree to pay and don’t contest their violations. “I’d like to introduce that bill again, but I need to prove my case,” he said.
Marks spent part of his first term in Augusta focused on expanding turkey hunting for junior hunters, improving brook trout stocks and increasing fishing opportunities for residents. He also drew considerable fire from gun rights advocates when he proposed several gun laws.
The proposed laws, many of them, did not pass. LD 222, a law that would make the Chief of the State Police the sole authority to issue concealed weapons permits, passed in the Senate but was vetoed by the governor. Seven other bills Marks sponsored regarding concealed handgun permits did not pass.
One bill, regarding the establishment of a central database of concealed handgun permits, has been referred to the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, according to Maine State Legislature website (www.mainelegislature.org).
New legislation Marks proposed on drunk driving (LD 1729) and to expand turkey hunting for young hunters (LD 200) both passed into law. The drunk driving law extends the time period courts use to calculate prior operating under the influence convictions, from 10 years to 15 years. Gov. LePage vetoed the legislation and later this veto was overridden by the senate.
Allowing a longer time period to calculate prior convictions gives courts the authority to apply more stringent penalties for recurring offenders. Marks recalled one case in which a Scarborough woman was caught committing her eighth OUI, but the judge at the time could only consider the past two convictions. “The governor said it didn’t do enough,” Marks said. “I agreed with him.”
If elected to serve a second term, Marks said he will work to pass new gun legislation that may win support from gun rights advocates. He said he has been working with and already gained support from the National Rifle Association and the Sportsmen’s Alliance of Maine.
“Everyone thought that I was anti-gun, and that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Marks said.
The problem is the system, Marks said. Each community, each municipality and police department has its own set of guidelines and procedures. The problem, Marks said, is there is no continuity.
“Ask anyone, any state trooper, if they’ve arrested someone for not having a concealed weapons permit,” he said, indicating that most have not. Municipalities ill-equipped to conduct sophisticated background checks, particularly on those people with mental health issues, he said, are “giving permits away.”
The whole idea behind the legislation he sponsored, Marks said, “was to fix the permit process.” He also argues that other states don’t want reciprocity agreements (allowing Maine permits to be valid in those states) because the Maine’s system is broken. According to USA Carry (www.usacarry.com), a gun advocates’ website, east coast states that honor Maine handgun permits include New Hampshire, Virginia, South Carolina and Florida.
Marks said he supports “Constitutional Carry,” which allows law abiding citizens to carry handguns without a permit.
Marks also plans to set his sights on drug testing automobile drivers who have been involved in fatal car crashes. He said the state police currently test drivers for alcohol use, but not drugs.
He also hopes people support bear hunting in Maine, as he does. “It’s a $60 million dollar industry we’re going to lose if we vote this down,” he said. The limits on bear hunting he believes are problematic and he sees the industry as one that brings a lot of money into the state, through permitting and tourism-related activities such as guided hunts.
Marks said he is disheartened by the partisanship in Augusta and around the state and he encourages residents to not “vote for the party, vote for the issue.” He draws from his experience to decide on these and other issues after working for the state for over two decades.
Marks retired after 25 years of service as a Maine State trooper. He has an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice and is six credits shy of a Bachelor of Science degree in political science, but he does not plan on getting those credits.
“I’m not interested in leadership, anymore than what I’m doing now,” he said. Remarking on his work in Augusta, he added, “It’s interesting, and I’ll keep doing it as long as people want me to.”
More recently he worked part time as a logger, which he has stopped doing, and he ran a storage business, which he has sold. He now coaches three sports teams for the Gardiner school system and helps out at a nearby farm raising Angus cows, in return for hay for his horses. Marks lives in Pittston with his wife, Tammy, and their four children.
