By Emily Cain
Aroostook County showcases the pride we have in our heritage and the opportunities we have for our future.
Growing up in a close-knit Catholic family, Sundays were special. We went to church, where I sang in the choir. The rest of the day was family time — lunch, chores, homework, and dinner together. Sunday night my dad would pack his bags to head out on the road for the week selling shoes. My mom juggled three daughters, while working as a teacher and sign language interpreter.
My parents faced tough choices, like a lot of working families trying to do right by their kids while finding and keeping a good job to pay the bills. For my family, that meant moving several times when I was young. I learned important lessons of hard work and focus on family as we rode economic ups and downs.
I also learned that we need a future with more good jobs, and that future is hard to imagine for too many families. We read headlines about economic recovery, but it doesn’t feel like we’ve recovered. We’re working harder, but feeling less secure. We’re generating more wealth, but working families and small businesses are not sharing in that success.
It’s time to build an economy we can be in charge of, not subject to the whims of big banks, multinational corporations, and Wall Street investors. We can build an economy driven by Maine people that focuses on our historic advantages of farming, fishing, forestry, and manufacturing—making things that people need and want to buy.
I’ve been fortunate to meet so many wonderful people across Aroostook County over the past year and a half.
At Huber Engineered Woods in Easton, I saw how we can lead in making things out of what we grow and harvest. But high energy prices and unfair trade deals kill jobs. I opposed the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership from the beginning, and in the legislature I sponsored a “Buy American” bill to make sure our limited tax dollars stay here. I worked to reduce energy prices by expanding natural gas and to make it cheaper to heat your home in the winter.
A few months ago I visited a seed potato farm in Bridgewater. Formerly all catalog sales, they now do 70 percent of business online — but the internet is slow and holds back growth. Rural Maine deserves to be connected and I’m ready to fight for roads and bridges, airports and rail, high speed internet, and cell phone service that won’t drop while you’re talking to your kids or your customers. We need a member of Congress who can work to get us connected.
I’ve met with loggers in Allagash, millworkers in Madawaska, and toured the Acadian Village in Van Buren. I’ve had breakfast with potato farmers in Fort Fairfield, toured McCain’s plant in Easton, and talked with sportsmen in Presque Isle. I’ve sat with veterans in Fort Kent who are tired of waiting so long for their doctor’s appointment. And seniors in Houlton who are struggling with the cost of prescription drugs.
Aroostook can lead as we grow Maine’s economy, but to do that, Congress needs to be removing barriers to success, not adding more. There’s a real choice in this election. I worked across the aisle, even with Governor LePage, to pass balanced bipartisan budgets which cut taxes for families and businesses. My opponent paid his taxes late 41 times, used a tax loophole to pay only $21 in property taxes on an oceanfront estate in Georgetown, and voted to cut Social Security and turn Medicare into a voucher program.
It’s time to focus on bringing good jobs to rural Maine, where you work hard and earn enough to pay your bills and support your family. That means having a secure retirement, and knowing that a sickness or accident won’t mean bankruptcy. It means peace of mind.
Together, we can fight bad trade deals and end special tax credits for outsourcers who send our jobs overseas. We can protect Medicare and Social Security, and get veterans the health care they’ve earned. We can add good jobs and do incredible things if we’re given the chance. Mainers aren’t looking for handouts, just a level playing field.
It’s time to put Maine people first. That’s what I’ll do in Congress. I am proud to ask for your vote.
