Keep ME Current - "Congressional Candidates Square Off"

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Keep ME Current - "Congressional Candidates Square Off"

Residents in northern York County last week got a good look at the Democrats running for Maine's District 1 Congressional seat in the June 10 primary election.

Five of the six candidates attended a candidates forum held by the Limerick Democratic Committee on April 30. Former state Sen. Michael Brennan, state Sen. Ethan Strimling, York County District Attorney Mark Lawrence, Augusta physician Steve Meister, and former state Sen. Chellie Pingree each made their case for succeeding Tom Allen in Washington. Portland attorney Adam Cote could not make the event.

Brennan, a licensed clinical social worker and a lifelong educator, said his priorities if elected include immediately ending our country's military involvement in Iraq, taking special interests out of health care, and supporting renewable energy. He also supports a program that provides free tuition to students attending state colleges.

The money being used to fight the war in Iraq could be better spent on health care and infrastructure needs, he said.

"We need to rebuild Iraq in a way that doesn't involve our military," Brennan told the audience.

During his time in the Legislature, Brennan said he helped fashion the DirigoHealth initiative, as well as other health care programs. In Congress, he would push to rewrite Medicare legislation to allow the government to use its buying power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. Brennan also wants to expand the coverage under Medicare D, closing the so-called "donut hole" gap.

The world is reaching a "tipping point" in regard to global warming, Brennan said. He suggests mandating that vehicles reach 45 to 50 miles per gallon by 2015, and that a windfall profit tax be levied against oil companies, with the proceeds invested in wind, solar and tidal energy.

Brennan also touts a massive weatherization program to upgrade Maine's old housing stock and decrease our demand for oil.

Congress, he said, has failed to take even small steps toward independence from foreign oil over the last two decades.

"We have to have people go to Congress who say we can't put this off anymore," he said.

Strimling, too, wants to end the dependence on foreign oil. He suggests a "Manhattan Project" that brings together the country's brightest scientific minds to work on renewable energy technology.

He also wants to turn oil company profits into energy research.

"Repeal the oil subsidies and put them into alternative energy research and development, and all of a sudden we have a different country," Strimling said.

Through his work at social service organization Portland West, Strimling said he has seen the country's wealth funneled away from the middle class. People are now struggling to send their kids to college or fill up their oil tanks, while the rich pay a lower tax rate.

"It instills in you an activism and an anger that won't let you go," he said.

In Congress, he would repeal the Bush tax cuts, strengthen worker rights, and invest in the nation's roads, bridges and other infrastructure, the backbone of the economy.

He would also push for an increase in investment in research and development. Too much investment is now going to hedge funds and debt rather than in manufacturing, he said.

Strimling is also a supporter of campaign finance reform. In his campaign, he is not accepting any funds from political action committees or federal lobbyists so he will not be beholden to special interests if elected, he said.

"I think we need to change the system," he said. "I think it is a fundamental issue for changing our democracy.

Lawrence, the district attorney, said his time as a prosecutor has taught him how to take in a large amount of information at once, as well as how to "go for the jugular" when necessary.

"That's what we need in Washington to take on the corporations," Lawrence said.

Lawrence would vote to repeal the Bush tax cuts and pull the military out of Iraq. The rebates now being sent to taxpayers would have been better spent on infrastructure improvements around the country, he said.

Free trade agreements currently in place allow give advantages to countries that use child labor and abuse the environment, he said.

"They are anything but equal," Lawrence said of the agreements, which he feels should be renegotiated.

The world is past peak usage of its energy resources, Lawrence said, and changes have to be made to the way we consume energy. He favors tax credits to people who use alternative, renewable energy. If you offer credits for people who drive cars with a high miles per gallon rating, the auto industry will soon begin to focus on building those kinds of vehicles, he said.

Meister, the only candidate in the race who has not held public office, ran an emergency clinic near the Kuwaiti border during the firs Gulf War. While in the Navy, he helped to create a clinic stateside that served as a mentoring tool for sailors. Later, he helped modernize the way a Maine hospital handled its records.

"I'm someone who gets things done," Meister said. "I don't look at barriers. I see how we get over the barriers."

The country should follow the model set by Ireland's resurgence in order to improve the economy, Meister said. The United States need to invest in education, particularly in math and science, if it is going to compete in the world markets.

Based on the results he saw when workers had support from experienced staff at his clinic, Meister also supports a mentoring program for high school and college students.

As a doctor, health care is Meister's primary concern. He said the country needs to produce more nurse practitioners and primary care givers, and he favors a mixed, universal coverage system that is not connected to a person's job.

"This way, we have choice and it's portable," he said.

The system could be paid for through a person's employer or by a payroll tax, he said.

With taxes, Meister said, its important that people see where their money is being spent. For example, he said, the money raised in the tobacco settlement went to fund programs to fight tobacco use and promote healthy living.

"If you are going to raise taxes on people, you've got to do it in a smart way that people can see," he said.

Pingree, a former candidate for U.S. Senate and former head of national acitivist group Common Cause, touts her experience as a leader. As a state Senator, she was at the forefront of a battle to get lower prescription drug prices in Maine.

"If you start with a bold idea, the people are right there with you," Pingree said of her lessons from the fight over drug pricing.

Pingree said she opposed the Iraq war during her 2002 Senate race, and continues to see it as the "biggest foreign policy disaster in our history."

"I'm one of the people who thinks we should get out now," she said.

She would rescind the tax cuts for the richest Americans, and eliminate loopholes in the tax code. She is against repealing the estate tax. Those who benefit from the country's position and infrastructure should pay their fair share, she said.

"If you make money in this country, you ought to be willing to give it back," Pingree said.

She favors a "cap-and-trade" solution to greenhouse gases. It would spur investment in clean energy sources, Pingree argued.

Pingree, a former organic farmer, also supports locally grown foods. As food prices rise, local farms become more attractive, and they can be helped with only a small investment, she said.

Cote, a Sanford native who served in the U.S. Army in Bosnia and Iraq, canceled his appearance just before the start of the meeting.

In addition to his work as a lawyer, Cote serves as a staff judge advocate for the Maine Army National Guard, is one of only three Mainers on the National Advisory Council for the Small Business Administration, and serves as a member of the Maine Real Estate Developers Association legislative committee and the Greater Portland Board of Advisors for the Salvation Army.

He supports a safe, responsible and quick exit from Iraq.

"We must be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in," he said on his Web site.

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