Michaud tours Auburn Hall

Scott Taylor/Sun Journal

Auburn Community Relations coordinator Tracey Steuber shows U.S. Congressman Mike Michaud around the first floor Planning Department in Auburn Hall on Friday afternoon. Michaud toured Auburn Hall's offices with Steuber, Mayor Dick Gleason and several other city officials.

AUBURN — Marcia Nye Boody didn't waste the opportunity Friday when she had Rep. Mike Michaud's ear.

Boody, director of the Maine Literacy Partnership, was teaching a literacy coaching class to teachers Friday morning in Auburn Hall when Michaud walked into the room. 

"We sure could use more money for education," Boody said.

It wasn't the only pitch Michaud heard as he shook hands with city staff, met people taking the Census bureau job test and even had his blood pressure checked Friday morning, all part of a meandering tour of Auburn Hall.

Some called for greater rail investment in Lewiston-Auburn while others asked for help luring economic development to the area. Still others touted the city's own efforts to run more smoothly and efficiently.

The congressman contacted Auburn Mayor Dick Gleason last and asked for a chance to visit the building and tour offices. Gleason said he was happy to oblige.

Assistant Andrea Quaid said it was the congressman's first chance to visit the building since it opened in 2004. There was no special reason for the visit, she said.

"He comes home every weekend, and tries to get out and meet his constituents," Quaid said. "This is just part of that, getting out and seeing the people in his district."

Michaud went across the river after the tour, attending a  Franco-American luncheon at Lewiston's Knights of Columbus Hall. Later Friday, he was scheduled to attend the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce annual dinner at Hebron Academy.

Friday was also the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women day, and the city was hosting free blood pressure testing for visitors to Auburn Hall's first floor. Michaud gamely stepped forward, rolling up his sleeves to check his blood pressure.

Garth Twitchell, a health coach for Occupational Medical Consultants of Leeds, performed the test but wouldn't reveal the congressman's pressure. He wrote the numbers on a slip of paper and handed it to him.

But Mayor Gleason joked that Michaud might have to take the test a few times to get an accurate reading.

"Look, there's Jason Levesque!" Gleason joked. Levesque is a Republican seeking his party's nomination  to challenge Michaud.