LEWISTON – Citing problems like out-of-control state spending, a dependence on foreign oil and a lack of health insurance options for Mainers, three gubernatorial candidates vied for attention at the Androscoggin County Republican Party Caucus on Saturday.
State senators Peter Mills, R-Cornville, Chandler Woodcock, R-Farmington, and former Congressman Dave Emery, Rockland, each addressed a modest crowd gathered at the Lewiston Multi-Purpose Center.
The candidates lamented longstanding Democratic control of state government and called on their constituency to elect more Republican leaders.
There were few questions asked in the hour-long round of speeches, but Lewiston voter Daniel Didonato, 35, touched on a challenge being faced by both Republicans and Democrats in this political age: the apparent disinterest of young voters.
He asked Emery, the last of the candidates to speak, how he would reinsert a “backbone” into the Republican party. “If you can’t do that, none of this stuff is going to get done, whether you’re elected or not,” he said.
Emery vowed to use his “red pen” on the state budget and said he would not enable others to raise taxes “to justify more spending.” He also said he is not interested in having a monument erected in his name, but in working in Maine to help Mainers.
After the speakers had finished, Didonato said he was impressed with Emery’s answers, but wondered if younger candidates less concerned about being “grammatically correct” might help the party appeal to young voters. “This place should be packed out – we should be in the gymnasium as far as I’m concerned,” he said, adding that he feels all people have a responsibility to get informed and vote.
During his speech, Mills touted his “12 Steps Plan” to address high state taxes, modernize pension plans for teachers and state workers, and improve the healthcare system, among other things.
“Frankly, this state’s biggest single problem is spending,” he added before encouraging people to seek out copies of his plan at the caucus or online.
Woodcock talked of restoring trust in government, looking for ways to keep young people in the state and the need to attract new employers to create jobs.
“We need to have jobs, and the way you do that is to make sure the government understands, you don’t create those jobs, employers do,” he said.
Emery said he “will lead this state to an economic reform based on fundamental republican principals, and you can help me get the job done.”
He vowed to perform a statewide audit if elected, and also called for health care and health insurance reform, as well as the need to find alternative energy sources.
“We have a tremendous opportunity to retake this state in 2006,” he said, then reflected on his years in government under the Reagan White House.
“He had a faith in our future which we need to recapture, and turn it loose in our state, to turn it from red to blue.”
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