Name: Jonathan P. LaBonte

Age: 28

Party: Independent

County Commission candidate for District 2 (unopposed), representing Auburn, Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland

Address: 41 Third S., Auburn

Phone: 782-1174; e-mail: [email protected]

Experience: Having not served in elected office before, my policy experience was developed through research and analysis of a number of forms of regional government, of which county government is one, and their effectiveness at both meeting service-delivery needs and retaining accountability to local residents. I did work as a consultant in 2005 for the Mayors’ Commission on Joint Services to review and offer insight on existing shared ventures between the cities of Lewiston and Auburn.

Family: Single with grandparents, parents and an older sister who live in Lewiston-Auburn.

Occupation: Executive director of the Androscoggin Land Trust

Education: Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Maine; graduate studies in public policy and administration at the University of Maine

Political experience: Served as co-chairman of Bates Mill No. 5 Task Force; Auburn Comprehensive Plan Update Committee; New Auburn Master Plan Committee; Auburn Citizen’s Budget Committee (2006)

Community organizations: Chairman of YPLAA, Chamber of Commerce young professional group; GrowSmart Maine Education Committee

Q. Why are you running for the County Commission?

A. Residents and businesses in the region are asking for government to become more effective and more efficient. If public services are to be delivered more efficiently and effectively at the local level, it will require communities to work across municipal lines even more. I believe that as a county commissioner there will be a role to play in facilitating this discussion.

Q. What do you think people want from county government? What do you want?

A. In the last couple of years, most news about county government has not had a positive spin. At the most basic level, people are looking for accountability and transparency on county business. If we are ever going to look for possible future opportunities for the county to help meet local needs, I believe we must spend time opening up county government and rebuilding trust and awareness of how the county is governed and managed.

Q. Much of the commission’s work is spent overseeing spending. Do you agree with how the county is spending its money? What would your priorities be?

A. The commissioners don’t oversee spending the county’s money; they oversee the spending of county taxpayers’ money. This line of separation, where a county tax bill is passed on to residents not directly, but through their local town or city tax bill, may be causing part of the accountability issue among residents.

With respect to priorities, that will be a discussion I look forward to having with local residents in the towns and cities I would represent and the staff of county government.

If I could set one priority that needs to be investigated, it is the provision to move county commissioner meetings to a convenient time to allow the public to attend and ensuring, as often as practicable, that meetings would be recorded and broadcast on local access TV county-wide. We should be creative and partner with towns and cities that have access to this equipment and staff expertise, and host meetings in their venues, rather than a small room in the county building.

Q. Do you think a commissioner ought to reside in the district that elected him or her?

A. The issue of living in your district is obvious. All elected officials should reside in the district whose votes sent them into public office.

Q. Do you favor a county charter?

A. County government can never be truly accountable to the residents and taxpayers if there are not clearly defined powers and responsibilities laid out for it; a charter would give this to us. The current framework is based in state statute and it would be hard to find disagreement that residents of Androscoggin County should determine how the county is run here and not just legislators in Augusta.