Young legislators not necessarily best choice
To the editor:
I would like to thank the staff and students of Presque Isle High School for hosting the Candidate Forum on Wednesday evening. I had the opportunity to go and am very glad that I made the effort as it reinforced my decision to vote for Rosemary Monahan for Maine State House District 146.
Now, I am all for exploring ways to keep our youth in Aroostook County but personally I don’t think electing them to higher office just because they are young is necessarily the way to do that and I vehemently disagree with my current Representative Dustin White’s assertion of “who better to solve the problem of our young people leaving Aroostook County than young people?” That is a short, trite, salesman-type answer to a much larger problem that I don’t believe, based on my attempts to communicate with him, that he has enough experience or wisdom to solve. Personally, I would like to see someone in this office that has the ability to apply critical thinking to the issues that affect the elderly and low income residents of our district. They have been brutalized by the DHHS cuts and restructuring and I fear that it is going to get worse before Governor LePage leaves office. I’ve seen it. I’ve been across the table from an 86-year-old widow that is in the process of being told by DHHS that her TANF benefits were reduced to $16 a month. These are not short, trite salesman-type issues they are difficult and complicated and require research and experience to understand.
I watched and listened to the three young Republican candidates on stage attempt to answer how they will vote on each of the five referendum questions that we will be voting on in November. I say attempt because it appeared to me that not one of them seemed to have a clear understanding of the issues that we are facing, in fact, I was very confused as to their lines of thinking. It was obvious that they had all rehearsed what they would say, as any speaker would, but they failed to communicate to me that they had even a basic understanding of what they were espousing and each one when answering basically said that “he said what I was going to say,” referring to their fellow Republican candidates on stage and that frightens me.
We need leaders that explore issues and take the time to listen to us, their constituents not just their party. Rosemary Monahan has the experience and ability to represent us well. She has my vote. I also hope she earns yours.
Lorette Adams
Mars Hill
