Representative Fredette has local ties

    Freshman Republican Representative and attorney Ken Fredette of Newport has been named by Speaker of the House Bob Nutting to serve on the Legislature’s powerful Appropriations Committee that will tasked with the duty of reviewing Gov-elect’s Paul LePage’s biennial budget proposal when the Legislature returns to work in early January.
    Fredette was born in Houlton, and graduated from East Grand High School in Danforth, then received his undergraduate degree in accounting; a master’s degree in public policy and management from the University of Southern Maine’s Ed Muskie School for Public Service; a law degree from the University of Maine School of Law; and in 2010, a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    In addition to his own law practice in Newport, Ken also serves as a Major in the Maine National Guard as a Judge Advocate General.
    “I am humbled and honored to serve on the Appropriations Committee during this time of great challenge for many Mainers who are either unemployed or under-employed,” Fredette said. “Fixing Maine’s billion dollar shortfall, addressing the Maine State Retirement System deficit of over $300 million and paying the hospitals nearly $400 million debt is a significant challenge for this Legislature, but one which I believe we will meet with great thoughtfulness, study and ultimately, a steadfast determination to provide Maine people with a government that taxpayers can afford.
    “The Appropriations Committee has the difficult challenge of reducing the size of state government while balancing the needs of those who must rely on government for help. I grew up poor and understand those needs, yet we have a duty to balance our state budget. Robert F. Kennedy once said, ‘Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.’  Quite frankly, it is our generations’ turn.”
    Fredette is married to Cyndi, a Newport Elementary schoolteacher, and they have two children, Morgan who attends Nokomis Regional High School and Colby who attends Sebasticook Valley Middle School.