Issue Position: Jobs for Maine

Issue Position

For decades, Maine's economy has struggled with high taxes and excessive regulations that have driven job creators away. As our job creators leave for other states, so do our children who must travel elsewhere to find jobs and raise their families.

Maine can be a place where young families can earn their futures again. We can bring jobs back to Maine. We can empower our children to find the gainful employment they need right here in the State of Maine.

The first step understanding that the private sector creates jobs, not government. All too often, too much government involvement leads to crony capitalism, where government bureaucrats pick the winners and losers in the marketplace, leading to poorly-run businesses that do not serve the needs of the community.

The people of Maine should pick the winners and loser in the marketplace by voting with their dollars which businesses to support. That is the only way Maine can achieve sustainable job growth. Government must get out of the way---allowing job creators to create the jobs Mainers need---by lowering taxes and and eliminating unnecessary regulation.

~Eliminate Unnecessary Regulations~

Maine law is filled with arbitrary regulations that strangle job creators, preventing them from growing their businesses and creating new jobs. One such example is a regulation that impacts a local small business in New Gloucester that serves its customers as both a restaurant and a grocery store.

Because of current regulations in Maine around liquor licensing, this business (and all Maine businesses) are banned from having both a "carry out" liquor license and a "sit in" liquor license. This means the business must choose between customers being able to buy a six-pack to take home, or being able to enjoy a beer in the restaurant with their sandwich.

The New Gloucester business chooses to have a "carry out" liquor license so that their customers can buy that six-pack and take it home with them. Unfortunately, that means that any time a customer wants to enjoy a beer with their sandwich, the business has to tell them "no" in order to avoid penalties from the government.

Some Maine businesses choose to get around this regulation by filing two separate businesses, which is very expensive because it requires the business owners to maintain completely separate records for each business. Most small job creators cannot afford to jump through such arbitrary hoops to simply run their business and create jobs.

Do you agree that this is an excessive, unnecessary, and arbitrary regulation? Should we allow Maine businesses to qualify for dual-liquor licensing, allowing customers to both enjoy a beer in a restaurant and to take a six-pack home with them?

As your next State Senator, this is one example of unnecessary regulations that Eric Brakey will work to repeal in order to empower Maine's job creators.

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