They’ll get ?work done
Like many people, I’m a creature of habit. When I go to Hannaford’s I always buy the same brand of beer, the same bread and the same peanut butter. I read the newspaper every morning at 5:30 and mow the lawn in the same clockwise pattern every time. I also tend to vote for incumbents. But every now and then, I read or hear something that causes me to pause, think, reconsider – and change a habit.
Last March, Andrew McLean asked me to have coffee with him. He said that he was planning to run for state representative. That morning I asked him questions for three hours and when we finished, there was nothing about him that I didn’t like. I have initiated further interactions with Andrew through the summer and fall and I have come to know him as an intelligent, articulate, caring, savvy, focused and very hard-working young man. He has his ear to the ground in Gorham. Over the last year, he has met and talked to several thousand Gorham citizens and has gained a strong sense of our community and needs of its people. But more than that, he also has an appreciation for the very special place that is Maine.
I am going to break a habit on Tuesday, Nov. 6. I am voting for Andrew McLean.
On the other hand, I don’t have to break a habit to vote for Jim Boyle. Phil Bartlett did a great job for Gorham and I am very pleased that Jim is running to fill his seat. Andrew and Jim will be able to get a lot of work done for Gorham as they commute together to Augusta.
John Tewhey
Gorham
Wrong to put up barriers
I am supporting Andrew McLean for State House because he will fight to restore $250,000 in funding to Gorham schools that was cut by his opponent and the majority in the Maine Legislature last year. Augusta has no business slashing education funding that forces local schools to cut important curriculum like social studies, music and art, and denying early childhood education to our 5- and 6-year-olds.
Over the last several years, funding for our community college system has gone through the floor. Andrew has my support because he wants to increase vocational education opportunities so that our young people and those who need job retraining get the skills and tools necessary to take advantage of opportunities in the free market and start small businesses that put more Mainers back to work.
We can get Maine back on track by electing leaders like Andrew who know it’s wrong to short-change our children’s future and put up barriers for those who are struggling to make it into the middle class. As representative for Gorham, Andrew will work across party lines and lead efforts to reinvest in early childhood education, vocational education and job retraining, and get Maine’s middle class moving again. That’s why I am voting for Andrew McLean for State House on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
Kyle Bailey
Gorham
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