My husband, Danny, learned about mill jobs as a kid when his grandfather would drive him from Bangor to Bradley for Spencer’s Ice Cream. Coming through Old Town, the smell of the paper mill was strong. Danny remembers Gramps saying, “that’s the smell of bread and butter.” As a kid, Danny didn’t understand. He laughed and told his grandfather that bread and butter didn’t smell like that. Gramps said, “that’s the smell of jobs.”
Those jobs are gone, and I miss that smell. Every mill on the Penobscot River is closed. We hear about economic recovery, but we don’t feel it. Families work harder than ever but don’t get ahead. For many, one good job has been replaced by two or three that don’t pay the bills.
Unfair trade deals have incentivized shipping our jobs overseas. Wall Street got a bailout while small businesses were left to fend for themselves. Working families are struggling. Seniors have insecure retirements. Veterans wait too long or travel too far for health care they’ve earned.
What we need instead is an economy driven by Mainers because everyone who is willing to work hard should be able to find a good job with which they can support their family, save for retirement and not worry that an accident will drive them into bankruptcy.
We need to focus in on the things that we do best. I want to build on our natural capacity to grow jobs in forestry, farming, fishing and manufacturing — jobs that can’t be outsourced. I’ll work to help our forest products industry advance and grow jobs. I’ll fight to get farmers the support that other states take for granted. I’ll work to keep boats in the water, fight to lower energy costs and simplify red tape so manufacturers can grow. What we’re missing is a representative who can bring together the resources, partners and tools that businesses and communities need to thrive.
We gave Rep. Bruce Poliquin a chance to prove he was up to that challenge. But he has quickly become part of the problem in Congress — there to benefit himself and the special interests funding his campaign. He has earned a reputation as someone who evades and dodges even basic questions. When Congress isn’t working for you, you have to change who you send there.
In the past three years, five mills have shut down, costing us thousands of jobs and putting small towns at risk. Poliquin said during an interview with Maine Public Broadcasting Network in 2014 that “ free trade is good.” He remained undecided on the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership that could lead to further job losses in Maine before coming out against it. I opposed TPP from the start. In Augusta, I sponsored a “Buy American” initiative to ensure our tax dollars go to products made in America and worked to eliminate tax deals for outsourcers.
Poliquin voted eight times with his party to kill the Export-Import Bank, which helps Maine companies compete globally. Those votes cost us 80 jobs, sending them overseas. I’d never take a vote like that. In the Legislature, I worked across the aisle to create a program focused on investment in rural Maine, which recently helped the mill in Baileyville add a new machine and 80 jobs. I want to take my bipartisan, common-sense, pro-jobs approach to Washington.
As the chair of the Legislature’s budget committee, I worked to pass bipartisan balanced budgets during the recession and even worked with Gov. Paul LePage to pass the largest tax cut in state history. Poliquin used a tax loophole to pay just $21 in property taxes on a parcel of oceanfront property in Georgetown in 2010 and paid his taxes late 31 times over the past decade.
Poliquin voted to shortchange veterans health care by a billion dollars, to turn Medicare into a voucher program and now won’t tell the truth about his positions on key issues facing our state and country. Maine needs a member of Congress who can be trusted to put working families first, and I have a record of doing exactly that.
We face real challenges. But we also know we have the capacity to do incredible things if we’re given the chance. Mainers aren’t looking for handouts — just a level playing field. I’m ready to work with you for that future. I hope to earn your vote.
Emily Cain is the Democratic candidate for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District.