" he has had experience creating jobs in the private sector...." Part time , low paying jobs !

He figures that running the ads now will stick in the minds of the people when election time comes around very tricky. I have never heard of him.

first he is a republican which explains low wages big profit next he will tell you he is a real american. What a joke.

Mr. Otten has to be better than what we have now by a far cry. As the comment from bwhite, as a Republican he might just straighten this State out. The democrats from president down to Governor in this great State is giving everything away. Why work? welfare is free, Go to any town in Maine now and see how many kids in school live off the State.

Hang it up, Republicans. Maine votes moonbat.

The best thing about his is a YEAR FROM NOW, the clueless Governor we have now WILL BE GONE FOREVER!!!! After that maybe someone can get this state in order. But we need to get as many Democrats out of office as we can!!!

Send them the message to get it right by voting them out. Why wait? We could start a recall on some of them.

Of course he has money; he walked away with a huge IPO and scammed his investors.

PLEASE NO POLITICAL ADS UNTIL 2010. WE ARE SICK OF YOU.

Not thinking about politics...Mark Brewer. That's all most people are thinking and talking about. People are becoming more informed and they are really getting worried and sick of these spend, spend politics. Time to clean out house. Grand manage ! ! ! We're loosing our privacy and freedoms our security our jobs. Just last week my husband received a phone call from his health insurance company which he is no longer covered by because he lost his jobs months ago, reminding him that the holidays are coming up and he should watch what he eats because he has a slight blood pressure problem. Well he doesn' have a job and no health insurance. If this health bill passes, we may get fined for no health insurance we can't afford either a fine or health insurance. People are telling me everywhere their deductable is going up. Less coverage and more money off their paychecks for health insurance and we are not thinking about politics? Maybe sick of politicians but more informed Professor Brewer. And I'll bet you are one of these extreme liberal professors.

Les Otten must have pretty bad instincts if he was stupid enough to hire war-hero imposter, resume liar Warren Cook, who first drove Sugarloaf into the ground as manager and then Jackson Lab.

Les Otten wants "Jobs" associated with his name because his positions are bad. http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/125924.html "Asked about the pending citizen initiatives before voters next month, Otten kept to a strict Republican agenda. He supports Question 2 and Question 4, the excise tax and taxpayer bill of rights, respectively, and said he would have vetoed the same-sex marriage bill if he were governor."

As to his supposed business acumen and source of his residual wealth for early TV ads to promote "Jobs" instead of remembering his positions and history, see: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/05/31/back_to_the_future/

Otten, who cashed in his interest in the Red Sox a few months ago, also resigned as a director of American Skiing in February. Needless to say, it's hard to bid on company assets when you're still on the board.

American Skiing has been selling off properties left and right over the past six months. It made a deal to sell Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp. in Colorado for $265 million in December. It agreed to sell Mt. Snow in Vermont and Attitash in New Hampshire for $73.5 million two months later. Then the company disclosed a deal to sell its Killington and Pico resorts in Vermont for $83.5 million just four days after that.

Otten was on the American Skiing board when it struck those deals, but resigned six days later. Skip ahead two more weeks: The company says it would consider selling the Maine properties. You connect the dots.

Presuming American Skiing sells those two resorts, the company will be left with just one large asset in Utah. That property, the Canyons, is tied up in litigation.

This is the near dismantling of an empire Otten started when he bought Sunday River in 1980. American Skiing really got going in 1997, when the company went public and raised $265 million. It sold shares for $18 apiece, and Otten owned about half the company.

Aggressive expansion plans and heavy borrowing built a portfolio spread across the United States, but also set the company up for trouble. Business was soft, and American Skiing developed cash-flow problems. Otten, then chief executive, tried to fix it by selling preferred stock to Oak Hill Capital Investments , a Texas venture capital firm sponsored by Robert Bass .

One slug of preferred paid 11 percent, and another offered 15 percent. American Skiing couldn't make the nut, so Oak Hill took equity. Before long, the venture firm was in the driver's seat. Otten, his stake seriously diluted, stepped down as chief executive in 2002, and the company's Maine headquarters was moved to Utah.

Now, decisions are made with the interests of preferred stockholders in mind. American Skiing is obligated to redeem $400 million of its stock in July, but it doesn't have that kind of dough. Common shares of American Skiing traded for 22 cents yesterday.

Ironically, the property value of resorts is strong. American Skiing agreed to sell Steamboat for about twice the price it paid. But the tough times between the company's IPO and the current market effectively bled common shareholders dry.

?: How much of Otten's common stock did he sell before leaving the other shareholders holding an empty bag?

When I think of people who have left us holding an empty bag, I think Democrat. I'm not an Otten fan, but he at least he wouldn't sit around wringing his hands hoping the mills will all reopen and scaring off the few businesses that might be interested in coming here.

Ain't no full time, high paying jobs walking across the bridge by themselves.

I am not an otten fan, however, Maine had better vote **conservative** or we will never get out of the mess that democrats have put us in!

Republicans wrecked the national economy. Les Otten drove Sunday River into bankrupcty. Now he's aiming to do the same for the state of Maine. Wow! What a record of failure can do for you.

Frostheev does have a point about the mortgage problems...

Not Worth the Words

I Support @dlaurels

It would of been Nice TO HAVE GOT THUR TO NEW YEARS

Before More (((( BS )))) Started Again<<

2010 is going to be a huge year for Republicans nationally - Maine may well get caught by the wave too. Lord knows the D's have been running Maine (into the ground)for years and years (with the exception of McKernan.) Angus King was nothing but a Democrat even if he called himself an Independent.

Given our economy outright sucks and has for years (even before the national recession) I think the GOP actually will have a shot next year.

Well, I don't know about that. And if we insist on hooking our wagon to Governor Palin, I will probably seek other transport. But Maine needs to let someone else--ANYONE ELSE--try. Even the Greens recognize that they need a decent sized tax base to fund their nutty agenda.

To Anne and Mattachine and all the rest of the devout liberals:

I don't care if you tell me that Otten is Pontious Pilate reincarnated. He is NOT a democrat like we've had for decades. The citizens of Maine are in desperate need of a governor who will not bleed its hard working citizens dry. It's an embarassment that the sponges from other states flock to Maine because "the word is" that Maine is where the best bennies are; at our expense.

Such rancor.

Jenna_T: Read the BDN comment pages often enough, and you will become very familiar with rancor! (unfortunately...)

There's an ad campaign: Come live on the dole...it's the way life should be?

"first he is a republican which explains low wages big profit"

And since 1978 the Democrats in control have done what for this state?

Forget the Nation let's talk about Maine since that will be what the Gov is going to run.

Our children still leave in droves because they can't find work here while well off out of staters come here to live on their trust funds and talk about how "provincial" we all are.

Please tell me what the democrat led Maine political machine has done for this State in the last 30 years because I'm not seeing a bit that has changed for the better.

You aint got a chance to become governor....get out now and save all your money you aint going to get anymore from Maine move south.

I see more focus on politics among my friends, neighbors and online acquaintances than ever before. For decades we've gone about our business assuming our elected officials were acting in our best interest. Suddenly we've had our eyes opened to a long succession of abuses and counter-intuitive measures that have become so blatant, so outrageous, so expensive and so costly to jobs (present and future) and the prospect of new business that we're actively getting involved. That doesn't mean, however, that we're looking forward to a long season of TV and radio ads. Speaking for myself, I want a person who gets out and talks to people across the state and speaks in an honest, straight-forward manner. I've run into a few people at fairs and town events during the past few months who have impressed me. Bruce Poliquin is one who comes to mind. Never again will I vote for an empty suit. I will only vote for someone I can talk with, look in the eye and from whom I hear solid solutions. We need an end to platitudinous promises. We need results. As a state and as a nation we can no longer afford to listen to advertising. I want someone like Poliquin or LePage who is willing to tell me how they feel about LD 1495, not someone who runs ads but "is still reading the bill and waiting..." I think a lot of us have had enough of this.