District: Andover, Byron, Roxbury, Rumford, Weld, the plantations of Rangeley and Sandy River, and the unorganized territories of West Central Franklin and Madrid Township

Legislative service: Fourth term

Committees: Legal and Veterans Affairs chairman

Bill record: 13 bills, six signed, one carried over, six dead

Voting record

Budget: For

Tax reform: For

Bear trapping ban: Against

Washington County slots at a tribal horse track: For

Stiffer seat belt law: Against

Increase term limits from 4 two-year terms to 6: For

When it came to bills this legislative session, John Patrick was a gambling man.

Patrick sponsored successful legislation that will allow nonprofits to conduct poker tournaments and allow people who volunteer in beano games to later play. He failed with bills to allow nonprofits to have slot machines, allow extra pari-mutual wagering at horse tracks and allow a casino in Oxford County.

He also sponsored bills to allow sampling of liquor and to require the state’s workers compensation system to reimburse MaineCare for expenses incurred while cases are pending.

The MaineCare bill, Patrick said, came to his attention from a constituent who was injured on the job, and had to wait for the case to settle before getting workers compensation funding.

Later, “He was irate that workers compensation was not reimbursing MaineCare, because these were state dollars,” Patrick said.

Patrick is chairman of the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee, which also deals with bills on gambling, elections, lobbying and liquor laws. This session the committee reported out bills that ultimately passed to increase legislative term limits from four to six and create new standards for lobbying the executive branch.

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