Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine Executive Director David Trahan addresses a press conference in Augusta. Once a self-employed logger, Trahan discovered a passion for public policy development after he was first elected to state office in 1998. (Courtesy photo)
If somebody asked David Trahan to draw up his ideal life on paper, it is entirely possible he would have come up with something similar to the life he is actually living.
From the home in Waldoboro, which he shares with Pam Trahan, his beloved wife of 42 years, Trahan has exerted sometimes significant influence over the state policies.
David Trahan is the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, a nonprofit with a mission to promote the conservation of the state’s wildlife resources and to be an advocate for its hunters, anglers, trappers, and gun owners.
Trahan is responsible for representing the legal and legislative interests of the organization’s 5,000 paid members and tens of thousands of outdoor enthusiasts at large. The job is a blend of organization, communication, advocacy, and policy development he relishes.
“Running for office, all that stuff is one thing, but I like the policy,” he said. “You take a problem, you look at all the reasons that problem exists, and then you try to create a policy to fix it and make it better. That’s a super challenge and I like challenging things.”
In his role as executive director, Trahan represents the organization’s membership, overseeing operations for the Institute for Legislative Action – the nonprofit’s lobbying arm – and its outdoor education center, a development created on a 134-acre parcel of donated land next to organization’s headquarters at 205 Church Hill Road in Augusta.
To date, the education center includes shooting ranges, fishing ponds, a trail system, and amenities to house educational programs, Through a contract agreement with the Maine Department to Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the department uses the facility up to 50 times per year for various training and certification courses.
Trahan discovered his love for the granular details of policy development during his decade-plus career as a state legislator from 1998-2011. As a man who eschewed college to go into business for himself after high school, Trahan said he never expected to enter politics.
Before he decided to run for office, Trahan had never run for anything in his life. In fact he wasn’t even a registered member of a political party. He enrolled with the Republican Party in 1997 only because they were on the same side of an issue he was.
“I was reading the newspaper; there was an issue related to the outdoors,” he said. “I think it’s something to do with logging and different quotes from legislators during the debate, and I was like, ‘That is stupid. That is so wrong.’ … ‘You know what? I’m going to run for office.’”
Beginning in 1998, Trahan won four consecutive terms in the Maine House representing the towns of Waldoboro, Bremen, Jefferson, and part of Nobleboro. In 2008 and again in 2010 he was elected to the Maine Senate, representing the majority of Lincoln County as well as Friendship, Windsor, and Washington.
As a freshman representative for what was then House District 59, he quickly established a reputation for voting no on anything he was unprepared to vote on.
“My learning curve was quick because I didn’t want to waste my time up there just saying no all the time,” he said. “I’m the type of person who will say no if I don’t understand something, but once I understand it, then I’ll get into it and try to solve that problem, and then that no becomes a yes. I’d like to think that’s maturity.”
David Trahan stands next to one of two skidders he used in his logging business. While he has little time for his own business now, both skidders are still operational and ready to go to work, Trahan said. (Courtesy photo)
According to Trahan, an early up close and personal meeting with then-Gov. Angus King helped illuminate his path in Augusta. Irritated by a remark Trahan had made in the press regarding King’s proposal to give laptops to every Maine public school student, King summoned Trahan to a private meeting at the Blaine House in Augusta.
“What he said to me was, ‘You give me a fair shake, and I’ll give you a fair shake,’” Trahan said.
Later, during the budgeting process, King invited Trahan’s input into what his House district needed. Trahan said he asked for money for road repairs.
“I think that was really what put me in my spot,” he said. “You have a chance to do some good for your community, or you can be a giant pain in the butt. It’s an obvious and easy pick. After that, I worked with his staff quite a bit.”
Trahan said he has enjoyed positive working relationships with Govs. King, Paul LePage, and Janet Mills. During his time in Augusta, Trahan developed a reputation for being willing to reach across the aisle when necessary to solve the problems. He took some criticism while he was in office for his willingness to work with Democrats and he noted the tenor of public discourse has only gotten worse since he left office.
“I don’t even know if it can be fixed at this point,” he said. “There’s just so much money that pours in from all directions. All these candidates are running for something higher, and they all want to get headlines so they can get the money. Right now I think that’s what’s wrong with our system. It’s just so much money.”
For his part, Trahan said he cares little about the political affiliations of the people he works with. What matters is the goal in mind and the idea on the table.
“Anybody that looks like they’re working with the other party is getting pushed out,” he said. “I don’t really care who it is. If it’s a good idea, Democrat, or Republican, or Green, or whatever; they come to me with a great idea, I’m going to help them. I don’t even know any other way to do it. That gets you into trouble now. That’s pretty sad. It’s dysfunctional.”
In July 2011, barely a year into his second term in the Maine Senate, Trahan announced plans to resign in order to accept Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine’s executive director position. He began working for the organization that fall and formally resigned his Senate seat as of Dec. 31, 2011. At the time he was criticized by Democrats for the timing of his resignation, which required a special election to fill his seat for the remainder of the term, but Trahan said he need the extra time to complete work on tax bills in the Legislature.
David Trahan makes a point during a conversation at his kitchen table in Waldoboro. A Waterville native, Trahan moved to Waldoboro at the request of his bride after the couple married in December 1983. (Sherwood Olin photo)
This was all heady stuff for a guy who never expected to make a career in the public arena. Born and raised in Waterville, Trahan’s life took a dramatic left turn when he met an attractive nursing student while he was doing some temporary construction job at the Togus Veterans Affairs Hospital in Augusta. When Trahan’s job at Togus ended before hers did, the future Pam Trahan finagled a way to pass her phone number to him via a friend. He called her the next day and proposed on their second date.
“She said, ‘Don’t you think that’s a little quick?’” David Trahan said. “I think my exact words were, ‘Well, I’ll wait a week and ask you again.”
The couple married nine months later and celebrates their 42nd wedding anniversary this month. In exchange for her hand, Pam Trahan asked for one thing: her new husband had to move closer to her family in Waldoboro. David Trahan said he had no problem relocating. Not only was he welcomed by his wife’s parents, much to his delight he discovered Waldoboro is perfect for him.
“It’s kind of in between all the things I love to do,” he said. “I love to fish on the ocean. I can go into rural areas very easily. It was just perfect for me, so that was a bonus.”
It was his father-in-law, Ronald Nash, who helped Trahan get his feet under him as a self-employed logger, a profession he still works at whenever he can find time.
“I always respected and admired her dad, and he was a part-time logger, and I wanted to try it, so I went to work with him for a while before I bought my own skidder and went on my own,” he said. “I always knew that whatever I was going to do, it was going to be my business. I wasn’t going to work for somebody else.”
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