Thacker

Will Maine voters support the same candidates or will they read the record?

To the Editor:

Will Maine voters take a look at the record of the incumbents, and like what they see or will they see the harm that has been done to our state.

We must take a true account of the situation our state is in. For over fifty years we have had a predominant party leading Maine. In that time we have seen the lumber industry regulated to extreme, putting hundreds of Mainers out of work; our lobster industry regulations making it harder for fishermen to make a living. Where are the woolen mills and shoe factories that used to be sprinkled throughout Maine and where are all of the community businesses that supported the workers of these mills?

It may be because Maine business taxes are one of the highest in the country and drove them out of Maine; Maine's welfare program the easiest in the country, you don't even have to prove residence of over 90 days, boy that brought them flocking into Maine. Maine leaders' view on same sex marriage being legalized went against the people's wishes and our legislature has forbidden Mainers to purchase medical insurance from other states at a much lower premium than that of the decrepit, dying Dirigo insurance that can't stand on its own. So our present representative and his party want to prop it up with a new tax that Mainers will have to pay along with the exorbitant premiums.

The above votes were facing our current representative, a fine courageous, though misguided, man and totally out of step with Mainers; his record states he voted "Yes" to tax services and increased over 100 other items, then presented it as a tax cut on your income tax, a "yes" vote on a new and additional tax on the failing state healthcare system. He voted "No," Mainers can't buy medical insurance from other states, that would save them hundreds in premiums; a "No" vote to welfare reform which included the applicant proving residence of Maine for at least 90 days. He voted "Yes" to same sex marriage being legalized, against the wishes of the people he represented.

The above votes would have been the opposite by Republican candidate Justin Thacker; he listens to the poeple and will vote the values and wishes of those he will represent.

Justin is a resident of Andover, Maine. He is a pastor of a church here in Rumford, former school teacher and he and his wife, Mary, have been married for ten years. Maine is lucky to have a man of such integrity.

Ellen Cleaves

East Andover