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Retired professor John Frary is challenging three-time U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud in Maine’s Second Congressional District for the chance to represent the state.
Frary was born and raised in Farmington, where he now resides. He studied at the University of Maine and Rutgers University before teaching Byzantine History in New Jersey. Despite his small chances of winning, Frary has indicated he is in until the end and has used nearly $200,000 of his own money to campaign.
Rep. Michaud grew up in Medway and worked at the Great Northern Paper Company after graduating high school. He served 14 years in the Maine House of Representatives and another eight years in the Maine Senate, where he was president of the Senate for one year. He ran for U.S. Congress when John Baldacci stepped down to run for Governor.
Michaud has differed from the majority of his party by running as a pro-life candidate. He is also a member of the Blue Dog Coalition – a group of 49 fiscally conservative Democrats. This has led him to break with his party on many fiscal issues, including the recent Wall Street bailout, which he voted against. Some of his recent bills introduced into Congress include one “to require emergency contraception to be available at all military health care treatment facilities,” and a bill “to prohibit the import, export and sale of goods made with sweatshop labor and for other purposes.”
Frary has suggested restoring Maine’s rail system and Maine Yankee – a nuclear power plant that was shut down in 1997. He has advocated creating an oil refinery in Northern Maine, which, he says, will be environmentally friendly while bringing down oil prices. A spokesperson for Rep. Michaud had no comment on the refinery idea.
Frary has also advocated the legalization of marijuana. As a guest on the Maine Public Broadcasting Network (MPBN), a caller asked him about his views on legalization.
“I have to tell you that I am inclined more and more to favor that,” Frary said, adding that he believes the U.S. should sell and tax it similarly to alcohol.
A spokesperson for Rep. Michaud responded that the Congressman “does not agree with his opponent that we should legalize marijuana,” adding “his concerns remain the effect that such a move would have on our nation’s youth.”
Frary has attracted attention by running small political essays as advertisements in 36 regional newspapers. These humorous and often irreverent essays have defined Frary’s style, but he insists he is running as a serious candidate on a no-nonsense platform.
“I hear a lot of folks saying that you can’t get elected to Congress by telling the truth and treating voters like adults, but I haven’t noticed anyone with the brass to actually try it. Maybe it’s time someone did,” he says on his Web site. These advertisements, given titles such as “Who’s shoveling what here?” and “Pique Stupidity,” accuse his opponent of being “an ignorant hack.” A flyer entitled the “Frary Home Companion” opined, “If Mike Michaud is not bought and paid for by the unions, then he is cheating them.” When asked about his advertisements in an MPBN debate, Frary responded, “Well, listen. A lot of people strongly object to negative campaigning, of course. . So I thought I’d liven things up.”
