VOTE411 Voter Guide

We are confronted with a federal budget that will eliminate food and healthcare assistance for some of the most vulnerable among us. We are required to balance our state budget every year and will be hard pressed to make up for all the lost federal funding.

Residential property taxes are spiraling out of control and causing real pain for low- and fixed-income people. We need to amend our state constitution to allow us to change how we assess property taxes including increasing taxes on the second homes of people who live most of the year outside of Maine.

Human-caused climate change is real and here now. The Maine Climate Council has taken some positive steps but we need to take more aggressive action and do so quickly.

Air quality issues surrounding South Portland’s aging oil industry infrastructure are an ongoing public health concern. We need to continue pressuring the oil companies to eliminate the potentially dangerous fumes that emanate from their oil storage tanks - especially during tanker offloading at marine terminal facilities.

It’s hardly unique to my district but affordable housing options are few and far between. Many essential workers, longtime residents on fixed incomes, and young people looking for their first home can’t even afford to live here. Rising taxes as well as food and energy prices only make things worse. We need to increase the availability of affordable housing and lower costs wherever possible.

My wife and I have lived in the same house in South Portland for over 35 years. Our kids all graduated from South Portland High School. Before serving in the Maine Legislature, I was a union organizer who helped workers to have jobs where they could build better lives for themselves and their families. Before that, I worked as a television producer/director in Portland where I had the privilege of partnering with many local businesses and non-profits to help them to be successful.

I’m a firm believer in public service and grateful to my community for everything they’ve given to my family. It’s an honor and a privilege to be a voice for working class and middle class people in South Portland who can’t take time off to be in Augusta.