What is one new policy that the state should embrace to make housing easier to build and afford?
Affordable housing is hampered by inflation that is outrunning incomes, high interest rates, cost of building materials, shortage of skilled workers willing to build them, and government overregulation. The answer? That Maine needs to create an economic environment attractive to anchor industry, good-paying jobs for Mainers, is critically important. Without reducing the tax burden and making energy more affordable that economic environment can’t be created. Housing affordability, however, also includes cost of ownership: A law helping Maine’s seniors stay in their homes by stabilizing their property tax was good policy, but Augusta Democrats voted it away to build more public housing. Public policy aimed at making the state your landlord is the absolute worst option.
Transmission lines, solar incentives and offshore wind development have been controversial over the past several years. What steps should Maine take to meet growing demand for electricity?
The question presumes a ‘growing demand for electricity’, but the real issue is not more supply, but how it is generated, billed, its cost to Mainers, and how that cost either grows or holds back Maine’s economy. Maine’s current energy policy purposefully restricts inexpensive, reliable, and environmentally-friendly hydropower to make solar and wind competitive. The increase in your electric bills, your money subsidizing solar, are a result of that mismanaged policy. I offered legislation to remove restrictions on hydropower to make the smartest electricity source more available, but Augusta Democrats chose high-priced solar, subsidized with your money, instead. That has to change.
Should the state make changes to its tax laws? If so, outline your priorities.
Maine government needs to start respecting the people’s money and the effort of the people to earn it by only taking what is absolutely necessary, and being good stewards of what they need. A study by wallethub.com shows Mainers bear the highest property tax burden in the U.S. and are taxed 4th highest overall! However, adjacent New Hampshire imposes neither an income tax nor a sales tax, and enjoys the next-to-last lowest overall tax rate. Clearly, studying New Hampshire’s policy and reproducing that policy in Maine would be a wise priority respectful of Mainers’ hard work, and would create an attractive environment for anchor employers and make Maine economically competitive.
We are closing in on the one-year anniversary of the Lewiston mass shooting. Are further legislative responses required around guns, mental health, supporting victims and families or other policy areas?
Last year Mainers lost loved ones to a horrible act of violence. The Lewiston Commission determined there were abundant warnings, those murders were avoidable if existing law was diligently applied, and no new legislation was necessary to have stopped it. However, Augusta Democrats, hostile to the gun rights of all the Mainers that didn’t do it, used it as an excuse to vote in laws that work to create a backdoor and illegal gun registry and an unconstitutional 3-day wait. Maine policy needs to focus on crime, and criminals, while respecting the civil rights of law-abiding Mainers. The Democrats’ new laws do neither of those things, and should be repealed. Statistically, Maine is proud to be one of, if not the, safest U.S. states, an indicator our policy is working.
Describe a unique attribute or area of focus that you will bring to the Legislature.
I spent my career in criminal investigation, and through that experience developed a sense of evidence-based pursuit of what happened, who was responsible, and what strategies are needed to succeed. My experience in the Maine legislature is very similar, in that we absolutely cannot twist or cherry-pick the facts to support our preconceived notions, but must follow the best evidence to make the best policy. That fact-based approach can lower our electric bills, support real education, promote transparent justice, conserve Maine’s environment, protect the most vulnerable, respect taxpayer contributions, and create an attractive economic environment to make Maine a place our children can live, work, and thrive.
