Chandler Woodcock is your average Mainer; he’s not a career politician. His resume includes teaching for 25 years as an English teacher at Livermore Falls, Mt. Blue, and a Skowhegan area high school. As coach of the Mt. Blue girls basketball team, he led them to two Class A state championships. An attempted smear has shown that Chandler had some liens against his home for unpaid bills. Rather than proving his irresponsibility, as the attacks were meant to do, this shows that he understands the common person. He has struggled under our tax burden and our low pay for teachers, while trying to put his kids through college. His bills and liens were paid long before his opponents brought this issue to public attention, and he knows what it is like to have to work hard to make it in Maine.
Great. Chandler Woodcock is one of us, a real Mainer. But what does he want to do? His number one priority is to fix the economic crisis Maine faces. We were one of only two states to face economic decline in 2005, the other being hurricane ravaged Louisiana. One of his main focuses in the economy will be tax reform, lowering us from the highest taxed state in the nation, as well as conforming the Maine tax code to the Federal tax code. Tax cuts spur economic growth, and we can debate all day who should get them, but no legitimate economist would disagree that they create economic expansion.
Another key area Woodcock plans to focus on is making health care more affordable for all Mainers, (we have some of the highest healthcare costs in this country) by making the market more competitive. This can be done by reducing the regulations which keep healthcare providers out of Maine, and by allowing Mainers to purchase healthcare across state borders.
One of Woodcock’s points that impresses me most is his government reform plan. To reduce tax burden and spending without cutting services, he plans to enact zero-based budgeting, a method of budgeting in which all expenditures must be justified each new period, as opposed to only explaining the amounts requested in excess of the previous period’s funding.
The most important item of this agenda is that he will respect the people’s will. If the people vote on something, he will implement it. Governor Baldacci has proven he won’t back up his promises with action. No more outright rejecting or watering down of peoples’ referendums! We won’t see (again) the hatchet job on LD 1 that the voters approved. ( LD1 was the referendum passed requiring the state government to pay 55% of public school funding.) The Governor and the Legislature amended it to the point of ineffectiveness. And no matter what the opponents claim, Woodcock won’t repeal the sexual orientation anti-discrimination law that the Maine voters backed in 2005.
Much is made of Woodcock’s stance on abortion. So, he is pro-life and proud of it. A governor has no control over abortion rights. Any law has to come through the legislature before it is signed by the Governor. At most, a Governor can push legislation they believe in, but Chandler will not do this with social positions. Whether the Legislature is Republican or Democrat after this election, it will be hostile to socially conservative positions.
The attacks against Chandler are meant to drive fear into your hearts, to take your attention off of a Governor and a party who have failed to provide for the Maine people.
Governor Baldacci was not supported by 25% of his own party in the democrat primary. His numbers are the softest for any incumbent that I’ve ever seen. The party knows they can’t defend him, so they are throwing out superfluous attacks hoping that you vote against Woodcock, as they know most won’t vote for Baldacci. They think you will fall for it. I don’t think so. I think Mainers are smarter than that. So I’m going to cast my vote for Chandler Woodcock and the future of Maine, and I encourage you to do so as well. As President Clinton’s campaign slogan goes “It’s the economy, stupid!”
Jon Read is the chair of the College Republicans.