Party affiliation: Democrat

Date of birth: December 25, 1956

Hometown: Harrison

Occupation: Owner and chef, Fine Kettle of Fish Restaurant; professional flight instructor

Education: Bachelor’s in marketing, Franklin-Pierce College

Community organizations: Member, Bridgton-Lakes Region Rotary Board of Directors; Lake Region Television;

volunteer, Harvest Hills Animal Shelter

Personal information (hobbies, etc.): Skiing, hiking, playing piano

Family status: Married; three dogs and a cat

Years in the Legislature: None

Clean Election candidate?: Yes

1. I am seeking a legislative seat because I am disappointed with my opponent’s priorities as evidenced by his voting record, especially on environmental issues. I know I can do a better job, simply by judging each issue on its merits rather than voting the party line.

2. My top priority would be to address the tax burden we bear in Maine. It’s not just eliminating waste; we need to attract higher-paying jobs through education and better infrastructure, re-structure the income tax brackets, and redistribute taxes among the various sources so as to reduce the emphasis on property taxes.

3. As a businesswoman, I fully support the concept of controlling spending, however, I think the TABOR initiative is flawed in its design and would be difficult to override should unforeseen circumstances require spending in excess of its “one size fits all” budgetary constraints. I do not support TABOR.

4. People seem to be more concerned about taxes and health care. Personally, I don’t believe there is room for discrimination in a modern, thinking society and I don’t believe the government should regulate the decisions a woman makes concerning her own body.

5. It would be miraculous to create a program that would address such a complex issue as affordable health care at all, let alone one that would hit the ground running without problems. Dirigo has some problems. We should stop bickering about it and fix the problems. There is too much invested and too much to do.

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