BRUNSWICK, Maine — Seeking to bolster his independent credentials, Senate candidate Angus King on Tuesday appointed Republicans, Democrats and independents in equal measure to serve as statewide leaders of his campaign for the seat that’s being vacated by Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe.
King, who won’t say which party he would caucus with in Washington, announced the selection of three Republicans, three Democrats and three independents to serve as state chairmen. Three served in the Legislature while he was governor and a fourth served in his administration.
“I’m pretty proud that people who worked with me have stepped up. This isn’t easy for a party member. They’re going to take flak from both sides,” King said.
King, a former two-term governor, is the leading independent running for the soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat. Six Republicans and four Democrats are vying to be their parties’ nominees in June’s primaries.
King’s announcement came days after Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York told a publication that he was confident his party would pick up Maine’s Senate seat. The Senate now has 51 Democrats, 47 Republicans and two independents who caucus with Democrats.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee accused Democrats and King of cutting a deal behind the scenes under which King would caucus with Democrats if elected.
King reiterated Tuesday that he hasn’t had any contact with Senate Democrats.
“I have had no contact whatsoever with any member of the Senate or any staff member in the Senate. No telephone calls, no meetings, nothing, nada, zip, nil,” King told The Associated Press. “No emails, no texts, no tweets, no Facebook.”
As for his state chairmen, independents are Eliot Cutler, the 2010 candidate for governor, along with state Sen. Richard Woodbury and former state Rep. Sherry Huber.
Democrats included former House Speaker Michael Saxl, who said he never before had endorsed anyone outside his party, as well as former legislators Judy Paradis and Barbara Trafton. Republicans are former gubernatorial candidate Matt Jacobson and former lawmakers Sue Bell and Jim Libby.
Of those, Saxl, Libby and Paradis served in the Legislature while King was governor, and Bell served as King’s senior policy adviser.
King said he had a conference call with four of the state leaders Tuesday and all agreed that the focus of the campaign should be on uniting Mainers and overcoming partisan gridlock.
“That’s the theme — common sense and problem solving, not worrying about which color shirt someone has on or which team someone is on,” King said.
He’s mixing Independents, Democrats and Republicans, what a concept!
Stop Fooling yourself. They are all Liberals. Nothing Republican about Sherry Huber or Matt Jacobson. Jacobson should stick to being a coordinator in attracting business because in his last campaign nothing was conservative about him. He tried to run as conservative in the 2010 primary but failed. Jacobson’s economic policies are Very Liberal. He cemented those views by aligning himself with the dark side (Angus King). Eliot Cutler is a Liberal. So don’t say he is supported by Independents, Republicans, Greens , Libertarians ,Tea Partiers because he is not. Angus will only get support from Liberals and those living off of Government teat.
they are all progressives….don’t be fooled by this group..
Say hello to Maine’s next US Senator.
Say buh-bye to the Teabullies.
The beautiful people run the show and the rest of us have to pay for it…the elite politicians continue to fool people like you…his latest business venture is under congressional review as there was misrepresentation in the application. dream on if you think this guy is good for Maine…
With regard to Angus King’s wind farms – stay tuned. He will curse the day he got involved with them. He will serve alright, time, not constituents.
Right next to John “Jock”McKernan?
Are the Teabullies getting behind beautiful Romney people?
Elite politicians are a product of the two-party system we ALLOW ourselves to be subject to.
Stop that, start something better. Get the out of control money out of politics.
U wish
I wouldn’t get overconfident if Republicans nominate Bennett , Plowman or Schnieder they will give King a run for his money. King is going to have a hard time running on his abysmal record as Governor. Angus will also have trouble explaining how he made his wealth off of taxpayer subsidies such as Wind Power , his businesses etc.. He will also have to explain about how it all started. He made tens of millions off of subsidies from people’s CMP, Bangor Hydro, MPS Electric Bills. Folks ever wonder why their electric bills have been high all these years ask Angus & His Friends. He has major explaining to do, he has not been called out on it. It’s time those running against him call him out on it and have him tell the truth to the Maine People. Liberals will be to dumb to do it, but I don’t think Republicans or Andrew Ian Dodge who is also running will let him get away with it. Actually I think it will be a very close race between Republican choice and him. I think Angus will end up getting bogged down from his record and his business practices.
Matt Jacobson could not get 4% of the vote in the last gubernatorial primary. I don’t think he is bringing any new supporters to King…
I doubt if he is harming King as much as the Ignorant Army is hurting the GOP, by cheering on their hero, Paul LePage.
Well when Jacobson claims to be conservative but is trotting out the Democrat Agenda on most issues. Your not going to win support from Conservatives, Independents, Tea Partiers, Libertarians. You might as well keep those idiots King and Baldacci in office. The bottom line is Liberals on here think King has a cake walk its not going to be easy as they think. If Republicans nominate someone who has the will to take on his record as Governor, His Business Record and him making his wealth off of Working People through Government Subsidies on Wind Power, Electric Bills etc. then he is going to have his work cut out for him. Because As I stated in one of my post, I think Andrew Ian Dodge who is running as a Libertarian will be a person who calls him out on his record . I also think Bennett, Plowman, Schneider and maybe Charlie Summers would as well. I think the Democrats will be too dumb to do it none of them have the courage to do it. They are riding the Angus King wagon as a back up praying he wins instead of a Republican or other third party choice other than Angus.
Not Jim Libby from Buxton?! Come on Jim! What are you doing?!!
Angus proves that although you can’t fool all of the people all of the time, you can fool enough of the people some of the time to get elected to public office… and get rich on taxpayer funded programs to boot.
Once more Angus ignores that fact that there are 3, not 2, official parties in the state. Although I doubt that any self-respecting Green would be on this light weight committee.
angus King will not protect Maine. HE COMMITTED the greatest crime to mother earth. He cracked her life blood and is now poisoning her with herbicides. He is killing her winged ones.
What are you talking about?
Record Hill GRID scale WIND Project. He not only hurt the mother but he took from you in the form of 1603 subsidy grant and DOE guarantee loan. Check out windtaskforce.org for more info.
Who are Dr. Monique Aniel, Steve Thurston and Brad Blake? WHAT are their qualifications for any opinions on wind?
If I was only interested in a crackpot website with bias news coverage then I’d get all my news from Maine Heritage Policy Center’s sanitized news site
http://www.themainewire.com/
drive the scenic drive to oquossic
Crackpots well you just summed up what Maine Democrats and Democrats who pose as Independnents have been for 40 years. Angus King is full of BS. This guy is an egomaniac who is only looking out for his interests and his friends interests. He is only looking to find ways to screw the working person while he fills his and his friends pockets. He was one of the worst Governors in Maine history. He expanded Government big time, he started the expansion of the Welfare State to what it is today. His policies killed jobs & businesses , tax hikes helped drive away alot of working Mainers who left for better opportunities. His Laptop Program is a joke it has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year and has shown no real results. If it was a success we wouldn’t have more than 70% of our schools failing in some form. The Liberals love this guy because they are clueless and narrowminded as he is. The fact is he will do damage to our state and our country if he is elected . Once he gets the real checkbook in Washington look out this guy will be one of the most sleaziest crooked weasels in Washington.
Excuse me. I am a liberal Democrat with a fine progressive bent and I never liked Angus King, nor did any of my equally liberal friends. Anyone with a functioning brain cell should have found it very easy to see where his loyalties lay. It was not with the people nor the land in Maine, but in the money that could be made by exploiting both.
So, you went to the Citizens’ Task Force on Wind Power at least long enough to pick up the names of 3 of the leading citizen critics of wind power development in Maine. But did you spend time actually reading the material on the website? Or were you too closed minded about one of the most controversial issues facing our state today?
I thank these leaders and the website administrator for putting the citizens’ perspectives and a lot of important information out to counter the two decades of lies, misrepresentations and propaganda perpetrated by the wind industry.
Getting back to Angus King, he sold his soul when he became a mountain destroyer so he and his cronies could cash in on the tax subsidies and Enron-inspired REC’s.
Yes, a lot it’s links to news clippings that support their view.
And just what is it there that you take issue with and why?
go to the Gulf Coast and see first hand the signs of what mother earths blood really looks like. It looks like oil. Oil on sand, oil on birds, oil in fish, oil deep in the ocean.
For Maine to lead the way with renewable resources is commendable.
go angus!
King really showed is true colors by endorsing Obama before a GOP candidate was even named. Anyone who can look at the record of Obama and think he is worthy of another 4 years shows either a) a serious lack of intellect or b) a serious understanding of the game of politics. This was a purely political move on the part of King to gain liberal voters and keep Democrats off the ticket. It worked. However, it will not help him when President Romney is elected and he becomes part of the minority party.
Once McCain chose his running mate, it was over.
then why has the GOP nominated a candidate more liberal than Obama?
Romneycare from Romneychusetts. This the man who created the healthcare plan that Obamacare is modeled after.
I just don’t understand why if the GOP is so against Obama’s policy’s why they didn’t offer a choice.
What a knave.
King is a proven failure and a self serving silver tongued snake oil salesman.
What brand of snake oil does LePage sell?
Bullsnake oil.
The hard truths of economics and reality.
DOH, it’s a discussion about King, not Obummer or Lepage.
Oil of O’ Lie.
can’t wait to vote for him, myself. go angus!
Here’s a good article about the knave.
http://www.thebollard.com/bollard/?p=9913
what is the bollard? Mad Magazine without the credibility?
you can do better.
You obviously didn’t read the article because your comment came just a couple minutes after I posted the article’s link. This disparaging of the messenger rather than a critical analysis of the message is seen all to often from the left. The tactic is right out of Ailinsky’s “Rules for Radicals”.
Critical analysis does not include reading one article Patten Pete.
I did visit the website, looked at masthead and about us section, and the garish animation. Based on those things, I chose not to read the article.
I rest my case.
you never made one
I am with Alice Barnett..Angus King does not care for what Maine represents and legacy for the future generations..the wildlife and the human life. What Maine would contribute to getting us off fossil fuel with his wind schemes is ridiculous compared to the amount of death and destruction to our land, habitat and humans he buys off..
She’s as crazy as you are.
Or, contradictorily, just as SANE.
Voting for King would be like voting for Baldacci plus Paul Violette.
No way, no how, no thanks.
MA-NE.net: King campaign chairs: Three of each stripe…
Angus King has despoiled Maine’s environment with impunity while lining his greasy pockets flush with taxpayer subsidies. Listening to him whisper falsehoods is nearly as nauseating as enduring an Obama soliloquy on social justice. Like his ebony inamorata in Washington, King has nothing to offer except more of the same: moral and social decline; an agenda of sanctioned infanticide; and a proven policy of bankruptcy for the State and all the masses of little people who have contributed to his personal wealth.
I hope everyone takes time to listen to the Who’s ” We won’t get fooled again ” and takes a look at Kings past accomplishments. He’s a self seeking politician, everything he does is for his own gain not yours ! Last time I was fooled by him he became governor , not again , I quit smoking pot and took a better look. The word ” independant ” got him elected last time , won’t happen again !
Not that he will win, but that would be interesting to throw one of, if not the first independent into the United States senate, supported by both major parties.
Maybe Maine could get or earn its title back from California, as Maine goes, so goes the nation?
go angus! go angus!
he’s got my vote, and almost everyone i talk to. every body on this comment section seems to be a single issue voter against mt top wind.
angus for president!
You need to read the sad truth about his performance as Maine’s governor, and his public trough feeding since that time. I know you mean well, but you’re wrong with regard to Angus King.
http://www.thebollard.com/bollard/?p=9913
He was wrong back then, and he’s still wrong, now. No thanks.
is there something else to read besides this bollard article?
i appreciate your reply and will read it. thank you for taking the time to reply thoughtfully.
Why is this even a story? Because it covers the BIGGEST EGO in the state of Maine and he works it, demands it. It disgusts me. I was hoping he would get back into 6 mpg “Molly” and roll off into the sunset. But after destroying the mountains in Roxbury and having his hand caught in the cookie jar, the BIG EGO lusts after the narcissistic allure of a Senate seat . I hope he gets ripped to shreds in the campaign.
Well if King is for Judy Paradis many of us are out. We cannot afford a Judy Paradis clone. We still do not know what planet she is from.