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Up-and-coming politician” has little to do with age and everything to do with ideas. The rising star candidate who looks first to government to solve every challenge—even the manufactured challenges—is useless to me. I don’t care if he or she is gorgeous, handsome, from “the best”
schools, most likely to succeed, or well-dressed if individual liberty is not first on their list of priorities.
This year I’ve met and listened to several current up-and-coming politicians—some in person, others on radio, TV, and in interviews by Michelle Anderson for asmainegoes.com. Maine has a long slate of candidates for governor. The cohosts of WVOM’s George Hale/Ric Tyler Show are maintaining a list that, as of last week, had 23 names. We elect Maine’s next governor in November 2010—more than a year away. But these candidates are crisscrossing the state, meeting voters, and building name recognition through old-fashioned handshaking.
Have I settled on my favorite gubernatorial candidate? No. I met Bruce Poliquin at a Bangor Republican Committee meeting a couple of months ago. Mr. Poliquin’s ideas, presented on his website as a “10-point plan,” had much to do with private sector job creation and putting Maine government on a crash diet. Most of all, Poliquin seems to understand that Maine is more than southernmost Cumberland and York Counties; that Maine’s more rural counties have unique challenges requiring unique solutions.
By contrast, I listened to another candidate for governor describe his vision for southern Maine, coastal Maine, and nowhere else.
Waterville mayor Paul LePage may or may not run for governor. Plenty of people hope he does. In its 2008 reelection endorsement of Mayor LePage, Waterville’s Morning Sentinel (10/22/08) said, “Under Republican mayor Paul
LePage . . . Waterville is a tightly run city that has kept property taxes down and government spending under control. LePage is . . . a businessman and tough manager whose tight-fisted ways with the city budget and strategic thinking have yielded growth in return. LePage has . . . helped Waterville thrive.”
Sounds good to me.
State representative Doug Thomas [R-Ripley], serving his third term in the Maine House of Representatives, is one of 2009’s up-and-coming voices of common sense and reason. In June 2009, the commissioner of Maine’s transportation department started calling for a 5-cent-per-gallon state gas tax hike. Sen. Dennis Damon [D-Hancock], chair of the legislature’s transportation committee, was everywhere saying, “No gas tax hike, no road paving.”
Representative Thomas, a transportation committee member, wrote a detailed column, saying, “Wait a minute. There’s plenty of money to make our roads safe if it is managed effectively.” Thomas’s column, in turn, started people statewide considering his alternatives. As I write, Representative Thomas and his growing allies have held back the state gas tax hike.
Maine has these and other up-and- coming politicians and true public servants. The year ahead is a great time to meet them and offer your support.
Scott K Fish has been active in Maine politics since 1989 working with Republican legislators, staying active in newspapers, radio, and TV. In 1998, he founded the political web asmainegoes.com, which is still going stronger than ever.
Ben Pratt likes guns. He’s the type of guy who can handle a rifle and a detailed discussion of Mark Twain’s greatest works. He knows American history, geography, and how to play the guitar. He hunts, rafts, fishes, and was a strong football player at John Bapst Memorial High School before playing for Middlebury College. Ben is a 30-year-old legislator from Eddington, but people might know him better as an Orono firefighter and EMT. He’s kept people alive while they were at death’s door.
When Jefferson and Madison penned the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, they weren’t thinking of vicious smear-artist creeps leading the country. They wanted leaders who actually read books, understood what they read, then applied this broad learning to their decisions as elected officials with a sense of compassion and honor. Jefferson and Madison did not want overly-cautious, lily-livered automatons. They wanted politicians, sure, but politicians who studied the issues and stood on actual principle.
Ben Pratt [D-District 20] is the rare leader we need in public office today. He has introduced legislation helping anglers and has used his expertise on fire protection issues in his elected capacity.
Ben also introduced a bill prohibiting open-air production of industrial or pharmaceutical crops—crops that produce pharmaceutical products or industrial chemicals that aren’t intended for human or animal consumption. There is concern about cross-pollinating and contaminating the environment and our food without sufficient study. ”These crops pose potential dangers we have yet to fully examine,” Representative Pratt said, when introducing the bill. “We do not know enough about what the long-term effects of open-air cultivation could mean for the environment or food supply.” The bill allowed for continued research in this area and the growing of such crops in indoor settings.
The law passed, placing a three-year moratorium on biopharmaceutical/industrial genetically-engineered crops grown outdoors. Maine products fetch a premium in the marketplace due to our reputation for safe healthy food. Rep. Ben Pratt took on powerful interests and succeeded in helping to protect our valuable Maine brand.
Ben Pratt has something else that should qualify him for high office. He’s honest. I’ve seen politicians who say one thing to your face, another thing behind your back, and another to the press. Ben is different. I served 10 years in the legislature, three terms on the judiciary committee, a term on appropriations, and a term elected by my colleagues to the post of majority whip. Sadly, I saw honest people who saw dishonesty stand silent. Ben Pratt is different. If honor matters, if intelligence matters, if wide reading and knowledge matter, if being an actual real-live human being matters, then Ben Pratt should be one of the up-and-coming leaders of Maine.
This is Sean Faircloth’s last Soapbox Derby column in Bangor Metro. He has moved to Washington, D.C., where he is the new executive director of the Secular Coalition of America. Faircloth has been the voice of the left lane in Soapbox Derby since the magazine’s debut in June 2005, and will be missed by readers and staff alike. Thank you, Sean—from both sides of the road!
