Judy Tunkle (Piper Pavelich photo)
Judy Tunkle, D-Dresden, is ready to see change occur in the Legislature and communication between representatives and constituents heightened, inspiring her bid for House District 53.
Tunkle faces Michael H. Lemelin, R-Chelsea, in the race for the House District 53 seat. Lemelin is seeking reelection for a third term. District 53 is comprised of Dresden in Lincoln County, and Chelsea, Pittston, and Randolph.
Tunkle replaced Richard Marc Goldman, D-Dresden, as the Democratic nominee. Goldman originally filed papers for the seat but withdrew.
Tunkle was born in Boston and raised in New York. She moved to Midcoast Maine in the early 1970s after marrying her husband, Paul. The couple has two children and has lived at their home in Dresden since 2014, farming and managing nearly 40 acres of land.
Tunkle has a Bachelor of Arts in childhood education/human service from Thomas Edison State University, of New Jersey, and a Master of Education in community counseling from the University of Louisiana Monroe.
While she’s currently a retired farmer, Tunkle had a private counseling practice in Baltimore from 2004-2014. Prior to that, she was a program director at a YMCA in Louisiana from 1984-1995.
Tunkle said she is running for House District 53 because her past experience lobbying with the National Resources Council of Maine – a nonprofit environmental advocacy group – was “unpleasant,” as she felt Lemelin did not want to speak about the bills she was lobbying for.
“It was like I was a nonperson … We may not agree, but we’re constituents, and, at least, we deserve to be listened to,” she said. “Nobody was running against him, and I just am the kind of person in the room who raises their hand,” she said.
She said she hopes to address the quality of communication between the Legislature and Mainers if she is elected.
Tunkle credits her clients and experiences in counseling for her management and leadership skills.
She said she learned the most from “courageous” children who had struggled with their home lives.
“By the end of the school year, they were all on the honor roll, they had all been to court, and they had faced the person who victimized them, and they were strong, capable … That was a wonderful experience,” she said.
While Tunkle has not served in local or state government, she said Mainers are the experts with regard to discussing what they need from the Legislature, and her experience learning from others and giving them the tools to grow will come in handy if she is elected.
Increases in taxes and education costs, as well as the lack of affordable housing, are big issues in the minds of constituents, said Tunkle, and she is wondering if the state can take the burden off Mainers.
“Maybe the state ought to find a way to take some of the heat off of the local taxes, which of course would mean the state taxes go up, but maybe it would feel a little bit more … Maybe it would be easier to pay a little bit more in your state taxes than to pay so much in your property tax,” she said.
Tunkle said municipalities should receive more support from the state, especially in regard to a new rule proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
As proposed, the new rule covers a broader scope of emergency responders, and includes safety measures intended to protect emergency responders from a variety of occupational hazards, according to regulations.gov.
According to various Lincoln County fire department officials, financial burdens, limited resources, the potential for reduced manpower, and a constrained timeframe for implementation are just some of the issues with an updated rule proposed by OSHA.
“If this law goes in to pass, in two years that equipment is going to be obsolete,” she said. “Those new OSHA rules are probably valid in Baltimore, but … the needs in places like Baltimore are so much more than the needs in a place like Dresden, that making Dresden hold up the same rules as Baltimore is holding up, it doesn’t seem fair.”
Tunkle is not sure what resources the state can use to help municipalities if the new rule is implemented, but that rural fire departments cannot just be left out to dry.
“I just know that rural areas are not going to be able to survive if those rules go into effect,” she said.
Affordable housing is an issue that affects many Mainers, Tunkle said, and she thinks that L.D. 2003 – a bill that allows the development of additional accessory dwelling units on properties – is a step in the right direction, but isn’t the entire solution.
Tunkle said she would suggest the development of a local industry for modular, multi-family housing development if she were elected.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get some clean industry, like modular homes? And modular homes that could hold more than one family would be an asset economically for the base of the towns, and, for people, it would give them more options for places to live … I think, at this point, there’s a local response necessary, sort of, to build on what the state has done,” she said.
One of her greatest accomplishments, she said, was helping to secure a grant for broadband in Lincoln County. In August, Lincoln County was awarded a $6 million grant from the Maine Connectivity Authority for the construction of broadband, a project expected to bring internet to residents across the county.
Tunkle became involved with broadband after attending a handful of Dresden Select Board meetings, she said.
“I went to four board meetings and said, ‘There’s (American Rescue Plan Act) money and we’re not using it, and we need to have broadband, so come on, guys, make it happen,’” she said.
The select board then formed the Dresden Communication, Broadband, and Digital Equity Committee, which Tunkle has been the chair of since 2021.
“That committee, for the broadband, is the first thing, anything like that, that I ever did,” she said. “We worked well together.”
Her work with the committee is an example of how she can bring people together, emphasize their strengths, and work toward a common goal, she said.
Tunkle was the chair of the Dresden Democrats from 2021-2023. She volunteers as a docent for the Lincoln County Historical Association at the 1811 Old Jail and Museum, of Wiscasset, and the Pownalborough Court House, of Dresden.
Tunkle is endorsed by the Maine Education Association and Planned Parenthood.
When she’s not campaigning, Tunkle can be found in her garden.
For more information, go to Judy Tunkle for Maine House 53 on Facebook.
The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
