The committee is concerned about job losses.
By Scott Taylor
Staff Writer

LEWISTON – The national drain of manufacturing jobs will bring Sen. Olympia Snowe to Lewiston for a U.S. Senate committee field hearing Thursday morning.

Snowe will bring representatives from the federal Treasury and Commerce departments to discuss challenges facing manufacturers. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. in Lewiston City Hall.

Snowe chairs the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Thursday’s hearing effectively brings the committee to Maine for a day, according to Snowe spokesman Ted McEnroe.

“When you have everything in Washington, D.C., you really limit yourself,” McEnroe said. “By taking the hearing out to Lewiston-Auburn, we can really focus on getting local businesspeople to testify. We can really explore the issue.”

McEnroe said the panels will discuss the loss of manufacturing jobs and how to keep them.

“It’s not a problem that’s unique to Maine, but it certainly makes Maine a fitting place for these discussions,” he said. “We’re looking at manufacturing and the role the government plays.”

Two panels are scheduled, McEnroe said. The first features International Trade Undersecretary Grant Aldonas and Tax Policy Assistant Secretary Pamela Olson.

The second panel features seven Maine business owners and officers from around the state: Bruce Pulkkinen, president and CEO of Windham Millwork Inc.; Thom Labrie, president of the defunct Auburn Machinery Inc.; Lisa Bonney, chief financial officer of Winderosa Gaskets in Dixfield; Rod Rodrigue, president and CEO of Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership; Randy Cousineau, president of Cousineau Inc. of North Anson; Allen Cairns, managing partner of Creative Mold Co. of Auburn; and John Wentworth, president of Moosehead Manufacturing of Monson.

staylor@sunjournal.com

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