What is one new policy that the state should embrace to make housing easier to build and afford?
Housing Mainers first is crucial and my first priority is keeping seniors housed. We need to help seniors keep their homes by reinstating a senior property tax freeze. I want elder Mainers who have worked thier whole lives to make our state great, to be able to afford to stay in their homes and pass them down to their families. Let’s not lose that housing to wealthy out-of-staters. The high cost of housing is impacting our small businesses, making it difficult for them to attract skilled workers. The new policy I’d propose is implementing a tax incentive for employers to provide housing for their employees.
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?
Our environment in Maine is our tremendous asset. In our race to be environmental, we are destroying our environment itself. Solar and wind have become an unforeseen greenwash that is benefiting mostly out-of-state companies and driving up electricity rates for Mainers. I support solar on rooftops, covered parking lots and wastelands, but the hundreds of solar projects in the pipeline are eating up farmland. We need to be testing for toxic runoff from these panels as they break down or we’ll be left with brownfields where we once grew food. Wind power is likewise harmful to birds and ocean creatures and displaces our legacy fisheries. We must use our massive potential for hydropower in Maine to meet the needs of the grid and bring down costs for rate payers and businesses.
Should the state make changes to its tax laws? If so, outline your priorities.
My top priority here is an immediate tax freeze on property taxes for seniors and expanded property tax relief programs for all. I want to cut taxes that nickel and dime every day Mainers such as the automobile excise tax. I’ll introduce a program that would exempt Mainers from sales taxes, like the tax on meals, when they present Maine ID at the point of sale. For these expanded programs and loss of revenue, I’d raise taxes targeting tourism, like airbnb, and funnel it into more tax relief for Mainers.
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?
I’m running for office so I can tell my kids that I defended common sense, the constitution, and our freedom. With rampant censorship today we need to remember, the second amendment secures the first. I won’t vote for any further erosion of second amendment rights that allow law-abiding citizens to protect themselves from the madmen who commit these atrocities. Time and again, with the tragedy in Lewiston, or the assassination attempt on the former president, we see these people are known to the agencies, existing laws and procedures are not followed and warning signs are ignored. Let’s investigate the root causes of these violent attacks, no matter the weapons used, which often involve prescription drugs associated with homicidal ideation.
Describe a unique attribute or area of focus that you will bring to the Legislature.
With my experience serving on a school board, our failing education is my focus.The drop in academic performance in Maine is stunning. We’ve got to stop the insanity of pushing race and gender ideology and transing kids. That’s not a path to success. Let’s get back to basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. I’d restore practical classes like woodshop, home economics, civics and financial literacy. After decades of pushing kids to college, our building trades are languishing so we can’t meet the demand for building affordable housing. Our small business can’t find skilled employees and college graduates can’t afford to leave home. I’ll work to expand vocational opportunities, in high school and community college for good paying jobs without crippling college debt.