HOUSE DISTRICT #63
LEE TRAHAN

Background

I’m running for state representative because I feel that my unique life experience has allowed me to see things from many angles. At 25 yrs old, I had a traumatic vehicle accident which left me a c6/7 quadriplegic. Through this perspective, I have learned how to fight and voice my needs by communicating with healthcare professionals and insurance companies. I want everyone’s voice to be heard in its own unique way. Everyone has their own experiences that will persuade them to feel a certain way and I feel it is my obligation to bring all of those perspectives to Augusta for equal attention and consideration.

Schools

I feel the schools in Maine could do a better job at preparing the students for life after graduation. I would like to see teachers’ pay increased to attract and retain Maine educated teachers to stay in state. I would also like to increase funding to high school technical centers to train individuals for lucrative positions within the state.

Women’s Healthcare

I believe federal and state laws should be removed from decisions that should clearly be determined by healthcare professionals and their patients.

Community Colleges and Universities

I would like to see the extension of Maine’s two-year-free community college program indefinitely. I believe through careful legislation to include a commitment from students benefiting from this program to remain in state and employed in their field of study for a minimum of three years post graduation.

Communication

I’d like to introduce measures to reach rural communities to interact with social and political issues and keep people informed and engaged more. I would travel the district and speak with people regularly and listen to their concerns.

Economy in the State of Maine

No, I don’t. Have open and honest discussion with employers to discuss possible revisions to the state of Maine tax code to better equip the state of Maine employers to offer increased pay and benefits. Some thoughts I have to begin this discussion may be that if employers are able to retain workers for a period of time they can apply for tax credit of some sort.

Affordable Housing

I would introduce legislation for property owners/management to prohibit excessive rent increases. I would also support state level grants for refabrication of abandoned buildings in the state of Maine into affordabl;e housing. A huddle I faced in 2019, I had no place to live that was wheelchair accessible and affordable for someone disabled.

Mental Health/Substance Use

would like to see a reduction in restrictions placed on mental health workers by MaineCare and other insurance companies to allow a more holistic, client centered approach to care.

Closing Question

Through the above identified steps as well as addressing issues like PFAS (foreverchemicals), in the communities I will serve and make one top priority to increase the quality of life in my district.

HOUSE DISTRICT #63
Paul Flynn

Background

There is no one specific reason although I can sum it up best by saying I have 7 Grandchildren. From there I can launch into the myriad reasons why I am running by simply looking at the state of our State. For over 40 years our number one export in Maine has been our Youth. We raise them, educate them, invest in them as a society and they leave.

They leave because they find Maine not to be a place they want to be. Many are driven out by better opportunities. More money, More opportunities. Our youth are left with a choice; stay and live in a state with the highest property tax burden in the Nation, and number 4 in overall taxation, overburdensome government regulation and social agendas, or leave.

There are many other reasons, all of which point to a lack of vision and leadership. In some summary form, this is why I am running.

Schools

Albion is losing its elementary school. Clinton is losing its elementary school. Why? Cost savings? If it is cost savings, then why do school costs continue to skyrocket?

We will have 6-year-old children getting on buses at 6AM for a one hour bus ride to Fairfield. How is any of this ok? And this is a microcosm of the loss of local control and the simple loss of parental and community voices.

All 3 of my children graduated from the SAD 49 Schools. I coached sports for SAD 49. There are amazing educators and administrators in the system. There is. Yet I see it as top heavy system and lacking in local contribution to the long term goal. Seems we’re following some system that’s being driven at a very upper level of administration with less and less community input.

How is a town like Albion going to attract young families to their town if the elementary school is 15 miles away?

I do not know what legislation I would introduce. For me to speculate without learning more of all the issues would not be in the best interests of anyone. I will learn and educate myself on all the challenges facing all of us.

Women’s Healthcare:

I believe in less government, particularly from the Federal level usurping the individual State’s Rights. To that end, I feel it is an individual State’s right.

Since becoming legal in Maine in 1974, we have gone from Abortion’s base acceptance in legalization to protect the Woman’s health, to the most liberal abortion laws in this land, which many Mainers find unconscionable. It is a very complex and difficult issue as we’re dealing with human lives; those of the mother and the unborn.

I am a Pastor in a Christian Church and have had opportunities to counsel and be part of the trauma of abortion from all sides. It is a subject that is not going away and one that we all must have a place at the table on how we want it to affect our society. A woman’s right to choose to be respected and listened to. Yet, the voices of those traumatized by this act and who find it Spiritually bereft must also have a seat at the table.

Community Colleges and Universities

I really have no opinion as I have no metric to show me what has happened over the last two years when this was being offered. How many people availed themselves to it? Were there candidates who would never have been able to attend without such a program? While I would love to say I am in favor of it I would need to know more information.

Maine’s Department of Economic and Community Development has stated that Maine needs to add 75,000 technical and specialized workers in order to sustain growth in the state. A significant part of this problem is the loss of college graduates to other states. What would you do to address this long- term employment and economic issue?

I have 3 adult children all graduates of Lawrence High School in Fairfield. All 3 are college graduates, 2 from Maine Colleges and 1 from a Massachusetts College. Two of them left Maine and 1 stayed. This is a long-term employment and economic issue that is not going to be solved in one magical piece of legislation. An environment must be created where our youth want to stay in the state.

This can be accomplished by researching the top 5 reasons why our youth are leaving and begin addressing those areas where we can have meaningful impact. It will require bi-partisan support with a deep look at our rural economically deprived areas. Are we offering the right course of study? Should we open our Technical Schools to students at a younger age who are showing aptitude in the trades? Have we explored Entrepreneurial Studies taught by some of the best Entrepreneurs we have in the State? In short, what we’ve been doing is not working. We must have the courage and leadership to explore all options.

Communications

Most all print media have suffered in the electronic information age. Most stores don’t even carry print newspapers anymore. While I agree it is not healthy, we must look deeper into the whys of the erosion of literally all the institutions in our small towns. In addition to the loss of local media, we are losing our local schools, we are losing our local General Stores, and in many local communities’ consolidation of reduction in services from the Postal Service and many medical facilities. It’s a deeper issue. In short, we’re losing our local voice. I don’t know of one thing that I would initiate to reverse the trend. But, this I can assure you, I am aware of it and will look for any and all opportunities to help reverse this trend in a legislative role.

The national political divide is now a wide Chasm. The vitriol and nattiness have come down to us locally in large part due to the rapid and many times, rash and brazen news stories that seem to bombard us all day. People are being fed a steady diet of hate, division, and fringe politics. When someone speaks from a different viewpoint, they are attacked. People are taking lawn signs because they don’t agree with them. People react in not kind ways to people who are simply expressing their opinions.

To curb this tide communities must prioritize who they are and who they want to be. Local communities should encourage ALL to attend Selectboard meetings, Planning Board meetings through communication and inclusiveness. We should be having spokespeople from the Community visiting schools and talking about not just Civics, but civility in Civics.

We, as Americans, are better than a bunch of shouting voices. We are all immigrants here and have managed to get along, and grow together, and this trend must continue. From the local level moving upward to the State level the tolerance for divisiveness must be diminished by taking firm stands that we are neighbors first.

Economy in the state of Maine

In my opinion, the economy in the State of Maine is not working for all segments of society. All one must do is look South. Then look North. There are huge disparities in Maine’s economy because in part we are geographically diverse. One must look at the different areas of the state to determine what is needed in an area? What is needed in the major industry that serves the area? Do the Natural Resource industries need more Diesel Mechanics for Trucks, Boats, Skidders? Does the Agricultural Industry in Central Maine need more support? More veterinarians, more skilled labor? Are our technical and educational colleges receiving an assessment on workplace needs 10 years from now? The problems and solutions are myriad.

Having been a business owner I can say firsthand that the manipulation of Labor markets through the rapidly increasing minimum wage, along with a very luxurious Welfare package that is offered is a major problem for our rural businesses.  In addition, it is very frustrating and candidly not acceptable, to receive a candidate for a job, who is a High School graduate, who cannot functionally read or write. How can this happen? I have many questions that I will be asking so I can formulate strategies on what to do about it.

Despite having one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, 3% at the end of last year, business owners still have difficulty filling open positions. What would be your solution to filling this employment gap? I touch on this above. Government manipulation of labor through wage controls is not helping. Small family business type models cannot pay more than $12-$15 an hour for a new employee. The end result is the company actually cuts its labor dollars by the owners working more, or curtailing hours. Neither of which is helpful to the overall economy. Costs of power are increasing dramatically, sometimes overnight to meet the financial obligations of the Solar Fields that are taking over our landscape.

We need to lower our labor and fixed overhead costs to assist the small business in not just surviving but thriving. Government is rarely seen as a help to business, with the common thought among business owners that government is THE hindrance to many small business models. This can be changed by creating an environment where Government sees itself as part of the business success rather than government seeing a business as a source of revenue.

Affordable Housing

Having been involved in Banking, Entrepreneurial Pursuits, and Real Estate for 45 years in the State of Maine I can say that it is a rare case when local property values are driven by the local wage earner market. The vast majority of Maine Real Estate values have always been driven by the Out-of State buyers. From the “Gold Coast” of Bar Harbor, down to Camden and beyond Real Estate in the “Vacationland” has always been impacted by the flow of out of state money. In the 1980’s, in central Maine, we saw entire farms of 100+ acres being gobbled up by Retirees and investors from ‘away”. After 9-11 we saw it again, and again during Covid. And now, post Covid, with the workplace reset, Real Estate continues to climb beyond the local’s ability to enter as a buyer and is becoming increasingly difficult to simply keep with the Property Tax burden.

Incentive through lower property taxes so people can keep their homes. Also, lower property taxes would assist first time buyers as many are now faced with monthly tax escrows reaching $400-$600 per month! On par of what their parents paid for a Principal and Interest mortgage payment. Tax credits for builders, and a lower capital gain rate may incent others to sell land they’re not willing to sell? It will require some out of the box thinking, and it may need to be more micro analyzed and implemented for certain areas but there are solutions.

Mental Health/Substance Abuse

I watched the Opioid pandemic rip through Western Waldo County beginning some 20 years ago. What was and remains frustrating is the apparent lack of response or the delay in response to these crises. Literally everyone knew what was going on yet there was no action from any branch of government. When complaining to Law Enforcement they responded that their hands were tied. When approaching District Attorneys for support on fraudulent checks and shoplifting the response was they don’t have time for the small cases. Well, these small cases are now very big cases!

Bottom line on Mental Health and Substance issues is we have to realize we all have the problem! If one person in our community is addicted then we will all feel the pain of the addiction through broken families, poor job performance, dire financial situations and infractions with the law. We all must own the issue and work together.

Crises response is rapid, but what’s the follow up? Are our jails nothing more than de-tox units for the addicted? Are there long term care facilities with metrics for measurement? Are we all willing to say enough is enough and get serious in tackling the impacts to our communities? So far, I don’t believe we have.

We need rehabilitation facilities that work for all of us. Not prison lock ups, not short term counseling, we need to, as a community, get very serious about this issue. In addition to the necessary medical detox units that are needed we need longer term advocacy and mentor programs to not only keep people sober but to challenge them to be productive members of society.

In short, a community approach with Law enforcement, members of the community, politicians from BOTH parties, educators, medical professionals, legal professionals need to be part of the solution. There is no silver bullet here. What is in front of us is hard work, new ideas and a resolve to want it fixed. That I have.

Closing Question

I would begin by addressing the Property Tax issue. We have elderly people who wonder if they’ll be able to be in their home a year from now because they can’t pay the taxes. Yet, we’re building new schools in the $50-$80 million range. We have people who are going without because they can’t pay their power bill, so we can pay for all the solar panels that none of us asked for. I will go there next. We have young people graduating schools that are functionally illiterate. Why? We have criminals wandering our state delivering drugs and crime, why? What are we doing about it? We’re waiting upwards to 2 years or more to fix our rural bridges while the road is closed yet millions are being spent on “New Mainers”. What about the old Mainers who’ve been paying the bills for decades? We seem to be accepting a lot of what isn’t working and continue to attempt to convince ourselves that someday it will work. It won’t. It hasn’t. We had a legislative body vote for a powerline that was going to affect thousands of private property owners without ever having knowledge of where the powerline was going! They were told to vote for it by the” Leadership” Where was the Leadership? That’s not leadership, that’s dictatorship. That’s why I am running for office.

HOUSE DISTRICT #66
ROBERT NUTTING

Background

I have served almost 20 years as a town councilor and as a state representative and 30 years as a pharmacist and a business owner. I believe that I can use my experience to help direct the legislature to improve the lives of our citizens. . .for government to leave people alone when they do nothing wrong, let them keep more of what they earn, and make smart policies about electricity costs, vehicle costs, and home ownership.

Schools

Maine is ranked in the bottom 10% of the states on education. Our future depends on educating our children and we must do better. Schools must concentrate on core subjects and parents need more choices of where their children can be educated.

Women’s Healthcare:

I believe that abortion laws should be left to the individual states. I was satisfied with Maine’s law before the last legislature changed the law to allow abortions for any reason up until the time of birth. . .I believe that is excessive.

Community Colleges and Universities

I like the free community college program. Maine needs more people trained in the trades and for jobs that do not require four-year college degrees. To retain college graduates in Maine, I am open to discussions about targeted (for positions where we have lots of openings) incentives.

Communications

So much news today is instantly available that daily newspapers are struggling. Even though local news is posted on X or Facebook, I believe that there is still a demand for local news on an apolitical medium that reports on town events and sports. I don’t think most people need newspapers to get world and national news anymore. I don’t have the solution but if I’m right someone in the business will figure it out. Finally, as long as there are people and communities, there will be conflicts. . .we just need to be civil with each other.

Economy in the state of Maine

The State of Maine spends far too much money. Reducing spending and thereby taxes would improve our economy. The combination of COVID and social programs has taken thousands out of our workforce. Getting the numbers back up will take time and will require new families raising the workers of the future and reasons for them to continue living in Maine.

Affordable Housing

Inflation caused by government spending and the printing of money is making home ownership a real hardship. The more that government gets involved, the worse it seems to get. Fix spending, get inflation and interest rates down, and affordable housing will return.

Mental Health/Substance Abuse

With tons of Fentanyl coming across our open borders, we will never prevent overdoses. The best we can hope for is punishment for those who distribute dangerous drugs and increasing the number of mental health workers by making Maine more attractive to them and incentivizing them to stay here as I mentioned previously.

Closing Question

As I said in my opening, some government services are essential but a less intrusive government and one which allows you to spend more of your own money on things and activities that make your life better and happier will lead to a better quality of life for people in my district.

His opponent, Alicia Barnes, did not respond to our survey.

UPDATE: This article originally said Paul Flynn did not respond to the questionnaire. This was incorrect. His response was inadvertently missed. We apologize for the oversight! This article has been updated with his responses.