State GOP chair visits Piscataquis Republicans

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Plans are well underway for the 2016 election, at both the national and state levels, Maine Republican Party Chair Rick Bennett of Oxford told members of the Piscataquis County Republican Committee during an Aug. 14 meeting at Mayo Regional Hospital. The former state representative also discussed the party’s current undertakings across the state.

 Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

MEETING WITH THE MAINE GOP CHAIR — Maine Republican Party Chairman Rick Bennett was the guest speaker of the Piscataquis County Republican Committee during an Aug. 14 meeting at Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft.

Bennett, who was reelected to his second term as chair in February, has been serving for over two years. A past president of the Maine State Senate, Bennett said U.S. Congressman Bruce Poliquin recently told him “there is no better time to be a Republican.’’

Bennett said in Maine and across the nation citizens are frustrated with the status quo as now 23 states have Republican governors along with GOP majorities in both the the state senates and houses, compared to just seven states having Democrats occupying these three governing bodies. He said the Republican Party won gubernatorial elections in places the party had not won before, and in Maine Gov. Paul LePage received 294,533 votes in winning a second term in the Blaine House.

“Maine people respect somebody who wants to come in and fix things and will tell the truth,” Bennett said about the Governor. “I like to say he’s a disruptive force,” Bennett said, adding this aspect of LePage has both “a good side and an uncomfortable side.”

“The refreshing thing about Gov. LePage is he thinks anew about everything,” Bennett said. He said LePage “is willing to go back to our founding fathers’ view of what government should be about” when making decisions based on the Constitution.

Bennett said developments in Augusta have not been easy “where things have been usual, the Governor likes to get in there and challenge this ‘business as usual.’”

Referring to LePage’s challenge of the hire of Maine Speaker of the House Mark Eves (D-North Berwick) as president of Good Will-Hinckley in Fairfield, Bennett said the Democratic Party feels “you should be qualified for a job you are not qualified for” and “a major qualification is they are a recently served Democratic legislator.”

He said LePage sees this kind of thing taking place and is doing what he can to fight it. “He is congenitally geared to just fixing things,” Bennett said. In fact Bennett said he is serving as the state Republican chair because he believes in LePage’s leadership.

“He took it upon himself to fix his situation,” Bennett said about LePage overcoming his difficult home life growing up to then go to college and establish himself in the business world. LePage, he said, “was a turnaround guy” at both Marden’s and as mayor of Waterville and he is working to achieve similar results in Augusta.

“He’s not a Republican first and foremost, he happens to be a Republican,” Bennett said about the governor. Bennett said all of the activists who have become involved with the GOP thanks to LePage have been very refreshing “and it’s the future of our party.”

Regarding the last legislative session, Bennett said “things got a bit off the rails” and this happened for several reasons. He said one cause is the natural tension between the executive and legislative branches but “that tension is good because it means it’s difficult to pass legislation” as laws have to proceed through a series of checks and balances.

Bennett said a second reason is “there are real differences in our party about taxes and how to cut taxes, and we should acknowledge and discuss this.” He said there are also some strong personalities involved, such as that of LePage, Maine State Senate President Michael Thibodeau and House Republican Leader Ken Fredette, but these differences are also a strength of the party.

Another reason, Bennett said, stems from overcoming the lingering attitude of legislating after four decades of Democratic control, which ended in 2010. “There is a learning process involved in that,” he said. Bennett said the process to involve citizens and small business owners in Augusta needs to be made easier, such as having these Mainers testify on proposed bills.

“It’s time for us to learn how to govern and the people of Maine have given us the opportunity to govern,” Bennett said.

“Now we are working on the next step and encouraging conversations to get people back on track,” he said. Accordingly, the Maine Republican Committee has authorized Bennett to work on a citizen’s initiative for a referendum concerning welfare reform and an income tax cut to be placed on the November 2016 ballot.

Bennett said measures on welfare reform and income tax cuts have been shot down by Democrats and these are issues that have gotten Republican lawmakers elected. He said the citizen’s initiative, which will bring the issue directly to the people to make a decision, will help Maine “go from a state of poverty to a state prosperity,” as LePage predicted in his second inaugural address.

A total of 62,000 signatures will be needed to place the referendum on the ballot. Bennett said those involved are determining whether to seek separate ballot questions or one combining welfare and income tax. When a plan is finalized, the signature gathering will start — possibly next month — and once the 62,000 threshold has been met the petition will be given to the secretary of state to write the question or questions for the November 2016 ballot.

“It’s a big undertaking but we know we can do it,” Bennett said.