ROCKLAND, Maine — The four candidates for a House seat representing Rockland and Owls Head have different opinions on Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed state budget.
A special election is scheduled for Tuesday, March 10, to fill the vacancy created when Democratic Rep. Elizabeth Dickerson of Rockland resigned last month, one month after being sworn into a second term.
The candidates, all from Rockland, include Democrat Anne Beebe-Center, Republican James Kalloch, Green independent Ron Huber and Libertarian Shawn Levasseur.
Kalloch said he supports the governor’s proposal to phase out the income tax while extending the sales tax to include services.
“A sales tax makes more sense than an income tax. It will take awhile to phase in but it will raise more money and spread it out among more people,” Kalloch said.
Beebe-Center said she was worried that eliminating revenue sharing so abruptly would end up raising property taxes.
“Our town is already struggling under current revenue sharing cuts and infrastructure demands, and I don’t want to see key services underfunded, especially our schools,” Beebe-Center said.
She also criticized the governor’s plan to tax nonprofits, saying it would hurt the thriving arts scene and the museums and nonprofits that make Rockland so unique.
Levasseur said he supports cutting the income tax. He said the tax cuts would help all income levels and not just the rich. The Libertarian said, however, he opposes expansion of the sales tax, pointing out that Maine voters rejected it a few years ago. Levasseur said he is especially appalled by the proposed taxation of nonprofit organizations.
Huber contended that the governor’s budget was not a balanced one. The Green independent said the proposed tax shift would increase inequality and poverty.
“Instead we should graduate income taxes fairly and extend the sales tax only in products deemed worthy of a ‘sin tax’ and/or an ‘ego tax’ boost on nonessentials over a certain set price,” Huber said.
Huber said he was running because the other candidates don’t grasp the economic, cultural and environmental importance of the communities’ chief renewable resources — lobsters and other seafood species.
Huber said it was critical to have a national health care system like other first-world nations and “stop seeming to insist that enriching vast absentee insurance companies is a key priority of health care.”
The independent was born on Staten Island, New York, and grew up in Mobile, Alabama, and later southern Maryland. In 1992, he moved to Maine. He has been an environmental activist who fought against the Sears Island port plan and MBNA’s expansion of guest cabins in the Ducktrap mountain deer yard and pushed to require Dragon Cement to cap its cement kiln dust mounds that were dusting Thomaston and parts of Rockland.
Levasseur said he was running to be a voice for those who are skeptical of government power and wanted to reinvigorate the Libertarian party, which wants smaller government.
The Libertarian said he opposes the expansion of MaineCare. He said the state has had enough trouble meeting its financial obligations to hospitals under MaineCare. Levasseur said a better plan of action is to find ways to make the medical economy less of a state-controlled one, to allow more innovation in providing and financing medical care.
Since 1990, Levasseur has worked full time at Electrotech Inc., a local electrical manufacturing company founded by his parents. He serves on the Knox County Budget Committee and has held leadership roles in the state Libertarian party.
Beebe-Center said she is running to see that state government invests in equality education, health care and economic opportunity for everybody. The Democrat said expanding MaineCare was a no-brainer that would provide health care insurance for tens of thousands of Mainers.
She served eight years as a Knox County commissioner and served as the regional manager for Penquis Community Action Program. She currently operates a consulting firm that helps local businesses with financial management.
Kalloch said he opposes expansion of MaineCare. The Republican said he is not in favor of covering young people who can go to work. He also said the federal government will not be able to cover the cost of expansion as promised.
Kalloch operates Penobscot Ferry and Transport in Rockland. He grew up in Rockland and served in the Navy for 30 years.