John “Johnny” Walker submitted photo

BETHEL — Lifetime Bethel resident John “Johnny” Walker is running as an independent to fill the open District 2 seat on the Oxford County Commission.

The seat is held by David Duguay of Byron, who has served for 20 years.

District 2 consists of Andover, Bethel, Byron, Canton, Dixfield, Gilead, Hanover, Lincoln Plantation, Magalloway Plantation, Mexico, Newry, Peru, Roxbury, Rumford, Upton, and the unorganized territories of Milton, Riley and Northern Oxford County.

Walker will face Republican challenger Lisa Keim of Dixfield, who is ending her final term representing Senate District 19.

Walker jumped into local government after graduating from Telstar High School in Bethel. He was elected to a three-year term to the Maine School Administrative District 44 board of directors.

Walker said he felt called and ready for the role given his 13-year tenure as a student and his work as a substitute custodian. His mother and grandmother were also longtime employees in the district.

“It made sense knowing as a student what worked and didn’t work,” he said.

Walker runs his property management and handyman business.

Walker has extensive budgeting experience serving on the school board. He is also treasurer for the Bethel Masonic Lodge, president of the Gilead snowmobile club, and chairman of the Oxford Federal Credit Union board.

“I’m very familiar with the infrastructure,” he said. “It seems like a good entry point.”

Walker is looking at how the county can more adequately prepare and warn residents ahead about damaging storms. If elected, he would place a focus on the Emergency Management Agency and emergency preparedness, he said.

“These events are going to become more frequent,” he said. “What can we do to prepare for the future?”

After bouncing around in a variety of jobs since high school — as an insurance agent, environmental health and safety officer, and managing a gym— Walker’s long dormant entrepreneurial instincts kicked in and he started his own business in March, Walker Unlimited LLC.

“I’ve touched a little bit of everything,” he said.

He originally started his first enterprise by DJing in eighth grade for school dances.

“Through my different jobs, I’ve made so many connections over the years networking,” Walker said.

Walker said he has always been independently minded and enjoys bringing people together, like at the family Thanksgiving table.

He remembers coming home from his first mock election in first grade and asking his father and his grandmother if they were Republican or Democrat. They told him they were independent and no one could tell them how to think or vote.

“I’m sick of the fighting, sick of the money that the parties have behind them,” Walker said. “I’m an independent, I’m a Mainer, and I’m not going to allow a party to influence my thoughts.”

Walker said that being involved in the Bethel community and at Woodstock Elementary School showed him how important community is, and that is his focus.

“I’m all about my community,” Walker said.

Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5.

MAINE SENATOR

Keim grew up in Wilton and graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a degree in marketing.

She was first asked to run for the Maine House of Representatives in 2012, but lost.

“I wasn’t actually political at that time,” she said.

In 2016, she won the election for state senate representing District 18, which at that time was all of Oxford County. Keim has served as the assistant minority leader for the Republican Party during her final two-year term.

Sen. Lisa Keim submitted photo

She hopes to become the first woman elected as an Oxford County commissioner, saying it is long overdue.

“It’s a way to stay involved and engaged, without it being so time-consuming,” Keim said of the commission seat.

She said understanding how governments spend money and working with large budgets in the Legislature has prepared her Keim to work with the county budgets and the services it provides.

“You have to understand your area to do a good job of representing,” the lifelong county resident said.

One of her proudest accomplishments in the Senate was helping to restructure indigent legal services, making a lot of improvements. She and her colleagues were working on that project for four years before they started to see movement, she said.

“If you’ve never been caught up in the legal system yourself, you don’t realize the importance of making sure the system is meeting its obligations,” Keim said.

On delays in the court system, Keim said it’s a “huge problem in the state right now because justice delayed is justice denied.”

She suggested that courts make some changes to speed up processing inmates by being more selective about the cases they are trying.

Keim said she has consistently been a voice for parents’ rights and for children, an issue that is close to home as she raised three adult children and has one grandchild on the way.

“Every piece of legislation that comes through, impact on families is one of my first considerations,” she said. “My drive in serving is I want Maine to be a place where families can thrive.”

Rep. Howard Sawin Millett Jr.

LONGTIME MAINE LEGISLATOR

House District 81 representative Howard Sawin Millett Jr. is running unopposed for the District 1 commission seat held by Steven Merrill of Norway for 30 years.

District 1 consists of Brownfield, Denmark, Fryeburg, Greenwood, Hiram, Lovell, Norway, Porter, Stoneham, Stow, Sweden, Waterford, and the unorganized territories of Albany and Mason.

Millett has an extensive background in education and in legislative policymaking related to education.

He is serving his ninth nonconsecutive term in the Maine House and will be termed out, which is why he is running for county commissioner.

From a young age growing up in Waterford, Millett was interested in math and always thought he would be a teacher.

“I was definitely looking to play baseball because that is a passion and was in my earlier years,” he said.

Millett was a teacher for 26 years at “just about every level,” he said. He taught Head Start, high school, and graduate students during his career. He also served as a teaching principal and coached sports at schools in Penobscot County.

Millett was first elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 1968. He said his family was always very active in civic affairs and that was instilled in him.

“I liked the idea of being responsive to the citizenry,” Millett said.

He was appointed as commissioner of education by Gov. James Longley and served in that post from 1975 to 1979.

“I was known statewide,” Millett said.

After working for the Maine School Management Association as an executive, Millett won the District 95 seat in the Maine House in 2002 and served out his terms until 2010.

He was again elected to the Maine House for District 71 in 2018, and serves as representative for District 81, after redistricting in 2022.

Millett also served as interim Paris town manager for a time in 2016 and has served on the Waterford Select Board for 10 years.

If elected to the commission, Millett will focus on ensuring there are quality services for every resident in Oxford County, while looking for creative ways to keep costs down for taxpayers.

“I think the Legislature has to play a bigger role in the support of our jails,” Millett said. “I want to make sure that Augusta does pay its fair share to the counties and I will probably be lobbying for that.”

“I’m an Oxford County man and I will be for the rest of my years,” he said. “I’ll do my best to represent my constituents well.”