My Values

Social Justice

I believe that everyone should be treated fairly and equally under the law regardless of sexual orientation, ethnic background, or religion. I have lobbied and campaigned for equal protection laws with my friends at EqualityMaine, including the 2004 inheritance rights bill (LD 1579) and the 2005 anti-discrimination bill that remained law after a referendum attempt to overturn. The inheritance rights law protects domestic partners, with victim's compensation, conservator rights, and gives partners the right to register as legal partners in the municipality in which they live. The anti-discrimination law protects people from being fired from their job, denied housing, credit, and public accommodations based solely on their sexual orientation. If elected, I will continue my fight for equal justice for all.

Education

I believe that everyone has a right to higher education and that it should be affordable. I think the folks at Opportunity Maine are doing a great job looking for a solution to rising education costs. Education has been a priority of the current, and past, legislatures, and I, too, believe that education is a top priority. We have seen increased enrollment and graduates thanks to the restructuring of the community college system by Governor Baldacci. Nearly every teacher I have spoken with has expressed concerns regarding the federal mandate "No Child Left Behind", and I agree that our schools would be more efficient without it. Most importantly, our youth deserve the best possible education we can give them. They are our future. I come from a long like of teachers and will work hard to insure that educators always have what they need to continue to educate our youth here in Maine well

The Environment

As a board member of the South Portland Land Trust I feel strongly that there should be a balance between development and open space. The two should work hand in hand. I am proud to be working with a talented and hard working group of people that are building trails in the west end of the city, protecting open space, saving Sawyer Marsh from overdevelopment, participating in earth day clean ups, and numerous other activities. I will do my part every day to be a strong advocate for our environment.

Economic Development

I strongly believe that Maine owned small businesses help drive our economy. Being a small business man I have seen first hand what kind of an economy we face and I want to make it a top priority if elected to build a stronger economic infrastructure. Most folks don't realize that Maine is in the middle of the global market and there are businesses that relocate operations here for that reason. There are some phenomenal programs out there designed to promote small business in Maine. For example, the Maine Technology Institute gives seed, and grant money to people that have a great idea they want to develop or Patent the one they already have. The Small Business Development Center at USM is a program to evaluate your idea, critique or help you help you write your business plan to help you get from an idea on a napkin to full fledged operations.

Another organization that I think is vital to Maine's economic growth is the Maine International Trade Center. This is where the trade of Maine's products begins. We have such a vast group of Maine products such as our large seafood, blueberry and potato industry to the superb craftsmanship if our lobster and sailboat building, that it makes me very proud of our state and will be very easy to work hard in Augusta to fight for all the great programs that have been created, and keep exploring for other small businesses out there.

Taxes

I believe that tax reform and tax relief are two different things, and if all you're asking for is cutting taxes, you are not asking for enough. Many of us are paying more taxes than we can easily afford. To tackle tax reform you must also work to stimulate other things within the state. One is continuing to make higher education more affordable and easer to access, promote small business and lower income taxes. I think property tax reform begins at the local level in your tax assessor's office, and your local municipality has and should be the only entity to have the power to lower or raise your property taxes. State level politics should not have a say in changing property taxes. In looking at Maine's economic and income levels an ideal tax formula should be broken down into thirds, 1/3rd sales, 1/3rd income, and 1/3rd property. We are not even close to that but hope we can get there in the future. Though it seems taxes are a problem, they really are a symptom. If we focus on increasing incomes than taxes become more affordable and much less of an issue. It's less about how much we pay in taxes, but what percentage of our income it requires. How best to increase incomes is an ongoing debate, but if we can approach tax reform from different angles, we will have a greater outcome in the future.