1. What are your three top priorities?

1. housing
2. healthcare
3. tax reform 

2. The past few years, Maine Housing Authority has utilized the HOME Fund (Housing Opportunities for Maine) to help finance fundamental programs as loans for first-time homebuyers, housing for people who are homeless, affordable rental housing, home repair, and housing for people with special needs. The Fund also helps finance programs that makes homes safer for children and makes homes accessible for people with disabilities. Over the last two years, the legislature has considered taking money from the HOME Fund in order to balance the budget. If elected, would you support the protection of the HOME fund?

YES!!!

If so, what other ways would you suggest balancing the budget?

I would support protection of the HOME. Last session I asked Mark Bryant to submit LD 936, An Act to Protect the HOME Fund.  It passed overwhelmingly and was signed into law by the Governor.  However, when it comes to governmenr finance it amounts to only so many good intentions ... only a constitutional amendment could take precedence over legislative discretion to tax & spend as it sees fit.  I would support a constitutional protection of the HOME Fund.  I would also support an increase in the Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) which is the sole funding source for the HOME Fund.  Currently, it stands and only 0.5% on all real estate transactions (0.25% Seller + 0.25% Buyer).  We have one of the lowest RETT in the nation.  I would support a substantial increase in the RETT - at least to 1% or 2% at a minimum.  

3. A major concern among young people is the rising cost of health care. 17,000 more Mainers are now uninsured since HMOs first arrived in Maine. State-funded health care programs like MaineCare is facing consistent cuts, while publicly financed heath insurance like Dirigo, has a current freeze on new applicants. Many First World countries have supported comprehensive health care systems that cover every person with health care. Within the United States, states like Massachusetts and Maine have taken steps towards universal, comprehensive health care coverage. Would you support state legislation for universal single payer health care in Maine?

YES! 100% Universal Single-Payer!  It's the only way to go.  We cannot afford to subsidize healthcare industry profits (25%+ of every dollar spent on healthcare insurance goes solely to profit). 

4. It seems that every month there is another recall or concern about children's toys or consumer products. The fact is that Maine families are exposed to hazardous toxic chemicals found in the consumer products that we use everyday. Toxic chemicals in the environment are among the causes of critical health problems that can be prevented. What would you do to help Maine ensure that hazardous chemicals in everyday consumer products are replaced with safer substitutes?

I am a Founder and Coordinator of the Children's Healthy Environment Campaign which promotes healthy homes & gardens.  Our partner, the Environmental Health Strategy Center, is a leading member of the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine.  I am an active member of teh Maine Peoples Alliance and have participated in many Environmental Health Lobby Days.  I would be honored to be in a position to help further the work of so many dedicated citizens as a citizen-legislator. I would support building upon LD 2048, "An Act to Protect Children’s Health and the Environment from Toxic Chemicals in Children’s Products.", by developing and adopting a comprehensive chemicals policy which MPA & ACHM have been leading the way on for several years now.

5. The State of Maine is currently a participant in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an innovative project geared toward cutting global warming emissions by establishing a cap-and-trade system for power plant emissions. Do you support Maine's participation in RGGI?

YES!!!

Would you support the establishment of an economy-wide cap-and-trade program in Maine that would cut greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors (i.e. transportation, commercial and residential heating, etc.)? 

YES!!!
 
6. The Maine Department of Transportation estimates that it faces a shortfall of more than $2 billion to simply maintain the existing transportation infrastructure. What, if any, funding solution do you support:
 
 LD 2019, An Act to Implement the Recommendations of the Governor's Task Force on Funding Passenger Rail, which would secure funding for transit by dedicating a portion of revenues from general fund sources like meals and lodging, sales tax, and car rental fees? 

YES!!!

Using Maine Turnpike Authority funds, which are currently dedicated to highway maintenance and expansion, for all transportation projects, including transit?

YES!!!

 Raising car rental fees to subsidize transit?

YES!!!

6a. Please detail other funding options you might propose or for which you might advocate:
 
The legislature just this session was beginning to look into a federal process whereby the state can seize a non-performing railroad by eminent domain (with fair compensation, of course) and then turning it over to another company for functional & sustainable operation.  This would create a vast array of new transportation and funding opportunities.  Many more companies would gladly ship on a dependable rail freight line.

I would be open to any viable funding source to invest in Maine's future for environmental & economic sustainability.


7. With the state facing a $200 million revenue shortfall in the current biennium (a projection that may change when April receipts are tallied),

Do you support increasing the sales tax in order to avoid balancing the budget entirely through program cuts? 

YES!!!

If you do not support a tax increase of any kind – and given that “enhanced government efficiencies” will provide only very modest savings if any at all -- which programs do you propose to cut and by how much?

I can think of no better program to cut than BETR - the (paper) Business Equipment Tax Rebate program.

8. As municipalities continue to provide what are increasingly expensive public goods (like education, police and fire protection), what is your plan for controlling growth in property taxes while maintaining these fundamental government services?

1) constitutional change allowing differential taxation (new=higher rate old=lower rate) - new property purchasers pay top of the scale while your rate goes down the longer you hold a property - something along the line of the "Chebeague Plan"

2) elimination of differential valuation of commercial property value which allows for deducting expenses while not allowing any such deductions for residential property taxpayers

3) regional service center plans which alleviate the pressure of increased tax burden due to the provision of regional services by large communities

9. The Opportunity Maine program will allow students who graduate from any Maine college or University, and continues to live, work and pay taxes here, to be reimbursed for student loan payments through a state income tax credit or an employer tax credit.
Projections show that in ten years, this strategy could cost the state as much as $55 million annually, but the return on that investment is conservatively estimated at $75 million in new state and local tax revenues and decreased social expenditures. If elected, will you commit yourself to protecting this long-term economic development strategy, without any reduction in the credit’s size or availability?  

YES!!!
 
10. Portland schools are seeing less funding from the state due, in part, to increasing value of residential and commercial property. Although property valuation is a measure of taxable resources, it is not necessarily a good indicator of the ability of taxpayers to meet the funding needs of our schools. What are your thoughts on how to balance local and state contributions to school costs?

Although it would be difficult to impossible politically, given the 2 Maines - urban/rural split, BUT, it would seem perfectly reasonable to add a Regional Service Center factor to the formula which would account a large part of the problem 

11. What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the state's new school district consolidation law, particularly as it affects Portland?
 
General STRENGTHS: opportunities for creative collaboration; opportunities for efficiencies via economies of scale and use of unused system capacities;  opportunities for greater local & parental control of schools as the ratio administration to parents & teachers decreases - IF parents & teachers seize this opportunity and organize for it; 

General WEAKNESSES: opportunities for less local & parental control of schools as the remoteness of administration to parents & teachers increases - IF parents & teachers do not organize to convert this dynamic to their advantage; possibly increased transportation costs, energy consumption, environmental impact, and wear & tear on roads & buses;

Portland STRENGTHS:  lots of unused existing school capacity which could be filled with students from surrounding communities at a lower cost than the per pupil compensation; opportunity to improve & expand regional public transportation systems finding synergy with school transportation systems;

Portland WEAKNESSES: without corrections to the school funding formula, use of unused system capacity would accelerate wear & tear on an already very old school system while not accounting for near-future funding to develop & maintain future school system capacity

12. Given Mainers’ struggle to balance work with family care responsibilities would you support:
Paid sick days to full and part-time workers YES!!!
Paid family and medical leave  YES!!!
Legislation that allows workers to request flexible work schedules without employer retaliation YES!!!

13. Do you support current Maine law (22 M.R.S.A. § 1502), which allows minors to consent on their own behalf for health care including contraceptive counseling, mental health care and substance abuse treatment?

YES!!!
 
14. Currently seventeen states fund abortion care for poor women on the same or similar terms as other pregnancy-related and general health services in their state-run Medicaid program.
Maine’s Medicaid program only covers abortion care when the life of the pregnant woman is at risk or she is the victim of rape or incest. Would you support funding abortion care for women covered by Medicaid in Maine?

YES!!!

15. There is a significant move in Europe, Alaska, and Southeast Asia toward the independent certification of fisheries as sustainably-harvested.
In effect, consumer demand for sustainable fisheries is moving faster than regulatory bodies to save fisheries from overfishing. New England is behind the rest of the world in this regard; Maine has no independently certified fishery. Would you support a similar move toward independent certification in Maine? 

YES!!!
 
16. What do you see as the biggest challenge for Maine fisheries over the next five years?

sustainable harvesting (which will be a function of political leadership to facilitate an industry on the brink in helping itself from going over the brink and taking our fisheries with them)    

Biggest opportunity? converting this crisis into an opportunity to recalibrate & retool more efficiently and sustainably

17. Do you favor creating a path of citizenship that allows undocumented immigrants to come forward and begin the process of permanent residency and then legal citizenship?
 
Yes