AUGUSTA – The three Democrats who lost to Senate President Elizabeth Mitchell in their party’s gubernatorial primary in June will lead policy subcommittees in support of her campaign.
Steven Rowe, Rosa Scarcelli and Patrick McGowan have agreed to solicit input from people across the state on topics such as jobs, energy and education, the Mitchell campaign said Wednesday.
Also, House Speaker Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven, and Kennebec Technologies owner Charles “Wick” Johnson of Hallowell will lead the campaign’s overall policy committee.
“engaging in a discussion with business leaders, citizens and industry experts, these groups will help enhance the policy agenda I am presenting to voters,” Mitchell said in a prepared statement.
Mitchell said her central themes include creating jobs by providing tax incentives to attract investment, reducing health care costs by providing incentives for prevention, establishing a small-business “ombudsman” and requiring all political appointees to file financial disclosures.
Mitchell, a Vassalboro resident, will face Republican Paul LePage, the mayor of Waterville; and independents Eliot Cutler of Cape Elizabeth, Shawn Moody of Gorham and Kevin Scott of Andover in the Nov. 2 election.
The day after the June 8 primary, which Mitchell won with 34 percent of the vote, all three of her opponents pledged to support her during the campaign.
Rowe will be co-chairman of Mitchell’s education subcommittee, along with Terry MacTaggart, former chancellor of the University of Maine System, and Marjorie Medd, a former member of the state Board of Education and a current UMS trustee.
Scarcelli will co-chair the jobs and economic development subcommittee, with Johnson.
McGowan will be co-chairman of the energy and environment subcommittee, with Adam Lee of Cumberland, president of Lee Auto Malls.
Mitchell also announced the formation of health care and government reform subcommittees Wednesday.
Dr. Maroulla Gleaton, an ophthalmologist in Augusta, will co-chair the health care committee with Pingree. The government reform committee will be co-chaired by Jeremy Fischer, a former legislator from Presque Isle, and Elizabeth Reuthe, a management consultant and a town official in Vassalboro.
MaineToday Media State House Reporter Susan Cover can be contacted at 620-7015 or at:
scover@centralmaine.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
