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On Nov. 2, Mainers will head to the polls and cast their ballots to determine the state’s leadership for the next two years. While media coverage of the gubernatorial debate has been exhaustive, the candidates for the state’s House of Representatives may have taken the backseat.
If you live in one of the University of Maine’s surrounding communities, expect to see the following names when you step behind the curtain.
House District 14 (Old Town and Penobscot Indian Island Reservation)
James Dill (D-Old Town) works at the University of Maine and has served on the Old Town (now RSU 34) school board for 16 years. As a result, he said his biggest issues is education. He believes Maine’s educational system needs to do a better job of motivating the state’s children to pursue their studies and promote a highly trained and educated workforce to draw in new business and spur economic growth. “Let’s face it, everybody knows where we are with the economy,” he said. “To me education is the key. These other things will all revolve around it.”
Daniel Phillips (R-Old Town) is looking directly toward the expansion of business in Maine. He wants to change state regulations and work on reducing energy costs to make the goal of making the state a more attractive place for businesses large and small to operate. Phillips himself works for a small company that sells forestry equipment and says he wants to ensure that his two children get a good education and have opportunities to use it in state. “We’ve never gotten into this before,” his wife Stephanie said. “He wants to bring a fresh voice to Augusta.”
House District 18 (Part of Bangor, part of Orono, and Veazie)
James Martin (D-Orono), the district’s incumbent, says he has also concentrated on economic development as a legislator. As someone who has owned a small business, Martin is “keenly focused on policies the state can implement that can increase small business development.” Martin also expressed his interest in energy policy, declaring a need for Maine to increase its availability of clean and renewable energy sources to reduce homeowner energy costs and reduce the state’s dependency on foreign oil.
James Parker (R-Veazie), his challenger, has an interest in economic issues as well. “I want to see the state [government] develop some fiscal responsibility,” he said, adding that he wants local administration matters recently taken up by the state, such as school policy, returned to local hands. One of his ultimate goals is to see reduced taxes in Maine, which he says will be a function of how well the legislature is working. Parker, a UMaine graduate whose engineering firm employs 65 people in five offices, says he also wants to see the university prioritized and the state’s welfare system revised to weed out cheaters, so that the system can better serve those who really need its help.
House District 19 (Part of Orono)
Emily Cain (D-Orono) is running for her fourth term as Representative for District 19. As House Chair of the Appropriations Committee, she has worked to restore funding for UMaine, higher education, local schools, research and economic development and to maintain what she described as “the vital social safety net for those who need it most.” Cain graduated from the UMaine in 2002 and currently works part time in the Honors College; she is also a part-time doctoral student studying higher education. In the next session, she says three of her priorities will be higher education, job creation and improving the way state government works for people and businesses in Maine.
Zachary Jackman (R-Orono) is a fourth-year political science student at UMaine, planning to graduate in December with a degree in political science. He said he feels that “the state of Maine can do a lot better than we’re doing right now in a number of areas.” Those areas include taxation, the state’s business regulatory climate and particularly the reform of Maine’s higher education system. “Ten percent of the state budget goes through District 19 every year,” he said, yet tuition has increased annually for the last 10 years. He asserts that “putting the right things first” on the state’s priorities list will lead to improvement across the board.
Bangor Daily News