Poliquin touts management experience in 2010 race

Bruce Poliquin, a Republican candidate for the 2010 Maine gubernatorial election in November, has racked up almost 40,000 miles on the 10-year-old motor home that functions as his campaign bus in the past year. His journey through Maine, he said, has been a telling one.

“Kittery to Fort Kent, Rangeley to Rockland. Everybody in this state is suffering.” Poliquin said.

Maine citizens “are frightened about the amount of spending that’s taking place not only in Augusta, but in Washington. They just don’t understand how they have to tighten their belts personally at home and in their businesses when things don’t go well,” he said.

Poliquin was born and raised in Waterville but now resides in Georgetown, a coastal town of just over 1,000 residents in Sagadahoc County. The town is most famous for being home to one of Maine’s most popular beaches, Reid State Park. Poliquin, the son of a teacher and a nurse, graduated from Harvard University in 1976 with a degree in economics.

He has made a career of investing in and managing businesses in Maine — experience he believes is a key component to fixing Maine’s budget issues.

“We need a competent manager who will audit every program, department and agency in state government to eliminate waste and redundancy,” he said. “Then we will be able to reduce taxes in a very meaningful way that will put more money directly in the hands of our families and will also create incentives for businesses to invest in our state and create more jobs.”

Making it easier for businesses to operate in Maine is “the answer to our problems,” according to Poliquin. Education, he said, is vital to the business climate in Maine.

“The best education that is humanly possible is a ticket out of poverty, away from drug or alcohol abuse, is one the keys to living a fulfilling life. And it’s also part of our economic engine. Companies don’t want to locate in a state unless there is an educated workforce eager and ready to work,” Poliquin said.

Poliquin said the state is spending 50 percent of its budget on education — 90 percent of which goes to elementary and middle schools. Maine has the seventh-most-expensive K-12 school system in America, and it is getting average results at best, he said.

“We have an average high school graduation rate. We have a below-average college matriculation rate. Forty percent of the kids that go to our community colleges have to take remedial courses because they aren’t ready,” Poliquin said. “We’re spending a lot of money in education and we’re getting a poor product.”

Students in the University of Maine System, Poliquin said, are “spending way above the national average” for an education that is “providing average results.” He cited the cost of administrative overhead as the main reason higher education is high-priced in Maine.

According to CollegeBoard, the average cost of tuition at a four-year public university for the 2009-2010 school year was $7,020 for an in-state student. Maine students at the University of Maine paid $9,626 in tuition for the 2009-2010 school year.

“We need to be very serious about getting those costs under control and putting that money into the classrooms where it belongs — whether it be at the university system or in elementary schools,” Poliquin said. “That will make us be able to have more robust programs and keep our tuition costs.”

If he is elected, Poliquin said that consolidation of programs and “maybe consolidation of some campuses” would be among the methods of dealing with the high costs of public education.

The divide between Republicans and Democrats in Maine is one Poliquin said he is willing to cross.

“I don’t see ‘R’ or ‘D’ problems, I see Maine problems,” he said. “We’re all in this together. I’m a pragmatist, I’m not an ideologue.”

Poliquin also said he is worried for the youth in Maine.

“I stay in touch with these young folks. I’m very concerned that they won’t be able to come back to this state because the state does not provide them with opportunities,” Poliquin said.

Poliquin, a political outsider, has run a successful fundraising campaign thus far. According to the Maine Commission on Government Ethics and Election Practices, Poliquin received more than $633,000 in campaign contributions before the first reporting date in January — the most by any candidate in Maine. Nearly $390,000 was Poliquin’s own money.

Poliquin said his experience outside politics sets him apart from the rest of the candidates.

“We need someone who understands how to manage budgets, be accountable for spending, [and] has extensive experience in finance — which I do — to solve these problems,” Poliquin said. “The folks in Augusta are well-meaning folks, but people from the private sector have lived in the real world, and we are forced to spend wisely, allocate our resources wisely — just like our families do.”

CORRECTION:
A previous version of this article said the average cost of tuition at a four-year public university for the 2009-2010 school year was $7,020 per semester for an in-state student. The average cost is in fact $7,020 per year.

---

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 18th, 2010, 12:47 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.