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Campaign Phone
207-693-8384
Finance Type
Maine Clean Elections Candidate
Campaign Endorsements
MSEA Local 1989, Maine AFL-CIO, Maine Conservation Voters Action Fund, Maine Education Association
Maine is such a wonderful place to live and has so much to offer, I find it frustrating that it is so divided politically. Maine's leaders need to be working together across party lines to solve its economic, healthcare, and other problems - listening to each other and finding commonalities to develop into mutually satisfactory compromises. I grew up in Tennessee where Republican Howard Baker and Democrat Al Gore were friends and colleagues, not tribal enemies. I believe we can get back to that, to politicians who work together instead of get stuck in gridlock. And I believe it is essential to addressing the needs of ALL Mainers: Democrats and Republicans, rural and urban, from its children to its elderly.
Property taxes are regressive, particularly for rural districts like mine where they end up spread across homeowners on fixed incomes. You see, 34% of Lincoln residents are 65 years old or older, compared to 17% for Portland - which also has a much bigger and growing property tax base. While Cumberland County's population increased by 8% from 2013 to 2023, Lincoln's shrank by 3.5%, Enfield by almost 10%, Maxfield by 19%. And my district is still hurting from the loss of its biggest business more than a decade ago. So the costs of essential services - such as police, fire/EMS, and public works - get spread across a smaller and smaller number of property tax payers, many on fixed incomes. Economic growth and tax reform are essential here.
I am a clinical psychologist, former news reporter, Lincoln Town Council member, husband and father, and I support strongly the U.S. Constitution including its 1st Amendment freedoms of speech, the press, and religion. I believe quality public education and economic development are key to keeping rural youth near home and property taxes down. I believe in healing our political divide - emphasizing the importance of listening and searching for commonalities so we can work toward compromises that benefit ALL Mainers. I am currently the only Democrat on the Lincoln Town Council with a proven record of working through difficult situations and of being what one supporter termed "the most reasonable voice in the room," a quality Augusta needs.
