PHILLIPS – Phillips homesteader and 3D artist Peter Bougelais seeks to represent the 17 towns and unorganized territories of Maine House District 112. The district covers Anson, Avon, Carrabassett Valley, Carthage, Freeman Township, Kingfield, Madrid Township, Mt. Abram Township, New Portland, Perkins Township, Phillips, Redington Township, Salem Township, Sandy River Plantation, Starks, Washington Township, and Weld. Bourgelais decided to run for the State House because of what he saw as the deteriorating economic conditions that predate the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Most of rural Maine has been dying for decades,“ said Bourgelais. “It will continue to die if we keep electing the same politicians who push the same regressive policies that only enrich wealthy elites on the coast while hard-working people in places like Anson, Kingfield, and Phillips are left to fend for themselves.”

His priorities if elected will be to make sure that any efforts to address the state budget shortfall caused by the pandemic have as little imapct on education, MaineCare, and property taxes as possible. He supports LD 1646, which would begin a study to transition Maine’s power grid to a consumer-owned utility, and he would vote to start such a transition in the next Legislature.

“Can you say with a straight face that you’re getting good service from CMP?” asks Bourgelais. “A consumer-owned utility that is responsible to ratepayers and not foreign investors will create badly needed green energy jobs in this area, and it is the fastest and cheapest way to transition our grid away from fossil fuels.”

Bourgelais is the chairman of the Phillips Planning Board, volunteers with the Phillips Farmers’ Market, and is a member of the Sandy River Business Association. He wants to bring that same focus on service to the community to Augusta. Pete Bourgelais has been the chairman of the Phillips Planning Board since 2019, and a member of the board since 2015. He has maintained and developed his family homestead in Phillips since 2015, growing organic peaches, apricots, apples, plums, and assorted greens while raising chickens and uhm…”inviting them to dinner”. He holds a BA in Political Science (magna cum laude) from the University of Maine-Orono, and a BS in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. After several years working in international human rights advocacy, Pete left the nonprofit sector in 2017 to retrain as a game developer, and since September 2019 he has worked as a 3D Environment Artist and Programmer at Peace Island, LLC, a Portland ME-based company that is making a non-violent, open-world adventure game based on a fictionalized Peaks Island.

“I’ve known Pete Bourgelais through my participation in the Phillips Farmers Market”, said Phillips resident Winona Davenport. “I find him honest and responsible and he would do an outstanding job as a representative for Maine State House District 112.”

Pete is endorsed by the Sierra Club of Maine, the Maine People’s Alliance, Maine AFL-CIO, and Maine Youth for Climate Justice. His campaign Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/Pete4MEHouse

Copy the Story Link