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Staff reports 10/14/2008

Name: Anna D. Blodgett
Age: 61
Political party: Democrat
Residence: Augusta
Employment: Retired parks, cemeteries and trees director for city of Augusta
Education: Graduate of Husson College
Political experience: Augusta Planning Board

Name: Julie Ann O’Brien
Age: 51
Political party: Republican
Residence: Augusta
Employment: Executive Director, Maine Republican Party
Education: Cony High School; B.S. In community leadership and development, Springfield College
Political experience: State representative, 1996–2004

1. What can you, as a state legislator, do to help people struggling this year with the high cost of gas and oil?
Blodgett: I am a member of the United Way heat group to see what services to help people will be available for Augusta, increases in these services and what still needs to be done to keep citizens safe and warm this winter.
O’Brien: If ever there was a time for people to get to know and help their neighbors, it is now. Watching over and helping those particularly in need — the sick, elderly, and shut-ins — is truly the most basic and effective form of assistance. It also is, in my opinion, our responsibility.

2. How would you handle the biggest issues facing the towns in your district?
O’Brien: Balancing the state budget and reining in spending must be tackled. Why do we always have supplemental budgets? It is almost assumed that governmental agencies will come back, asking for more. There is something inherently wrong with that attitude. I really feel that I can find fat.
Blodgett: The biggest issue and concerns of the citizens that I have visited is definitely the winter ahead. Taxes and health insurance were also big concerns.

3. Do you have any plans that would result in more jobs for Maine?
Blodgett: To encourage the kind of companies coming to Maine that create very good jobs and benefits for citizens of Maine and Augusta.
O’Brien: I often hear of businesses choosing another state to invest in. Reasons are often too much regulation and high taxes. When re-elected, I plan to really examine our economic development department to see how they work to bring in new business to Maine. I believe we should work very closely with potential business to assess their needs.

4. What do you think of the beverage-tax repeal on the November ballot?
O’Brien: I feel it most certainly should be repealed. It is not about taking insurance away from some Mainers. The issue of Dirigo is a whole other discussion. This legislation is about taxes. It is about a few pennies here, a few pennies there. Soon we become one of the highest-taxed states in the nation.
Blodgett: I will not vote to repeal this beverage tax. Although I am definitely against more taxes, I do believe that health insurance is so important that with this repeal, there will be 18,000 Mainers who will not able to join Dirigo Health Insurance. This was a big problem for some of the people I canvassed in my district.

5. Would you support legislation to change the income tax or sales tax?
Blodgett: I would definitely support this legislation. New revenue sources and cuts in services will have to happen to do this. I’m not sure, until I am in the Legislature, how this can be accomplished in a bipartisan manner.
O’Brien: I would absolutely not support any effort to raise taxes. We do need to simplify the tax code.

6. What’s the biggest social issue facing the state in the next two years?
O’Brien: I have long felt that the breakdown of the family is emotionally devastating. It also is responsible for so very much of the huge human services budget. What is the cause and what is the effect of substance abuse, child abuse, mental illness, suicide, domestic violence and poverty?
Blodgett: I would say that is fuel costs, which the federal level has control over to lower — whether it is gasoline or heating oil. Maine has great natural resources, and we all have to be proactive about utilizing them.

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