BUXTON — In a three-way race to represent House District 22, Republican incumbent Mark Blier faces Green Independent Michael Barden of Limington and a former challenger, Democrat Richard Fitzgerald of Buxton.

The far-flung state House district includes Limington, part of Buxton, part of Standish and part of Limerick. The election is Nov. 3.

Barden

Barden cites safeguarding the environment and responsible economics as the top issues facing the state.

“We need to move forward and at great speed at reducing carbon emissions and put into place stronger laws that will guarantee our natural resources will still be there in abundance in the future,” Barden said.

That includes waste management, which could potentially “be transformed to empower an environmental policy shift,” he said.

As for the economy, he said, “For too long corporations have taken advantage of the marketing and politicians to force their agenda to create a chasm between the rich and not rich. With proper structure we can ensure everyone, including the ones at the top, pays their fair share and energize the economy, which was always supposed to be based on the working class consumers.”

Blier

Blier said the two big issues facing Maine today are the budget shortfall due to the coronavirus and health care.

“The only way to fix the shortfall is either raising taxes or cutting spending. Due to the financial impact of coronavirus has had on the people of state of Maine, I’m not in favor of raising taxes,” Blier said.

He believes the state could cut spending by eliminating positions that were allocated in the last budget cycle that have not been filled yet.

“This is one way to cut cost without having a tremendous impact to the current system,” he said.

Blier said health care is an issue not easily solved.

“I served on the health coverage insurance and financial services committee. I was on the front lines to see what the state of Maine is facing,” he said.

He has heard a lot of talk about a single payer health care system or government-funded health care.

“This will only work if we control the cost of health care. If we cannot control the cost of health care then we are giving a blank check to the hospitals and pharmaceutical companies which will be paid for by taxpayers,” Blier said.

Fitzgerald

For Fitzgerald, making his third run for the seat, there’s only one top issue – getting safely through the pandemic.

“Everything else is a timeout,” he said.

No one is making any money, he said, and “the budget will be a big deal.”

As an accountant, he would analyze every state department with an eye on saving tax dollars, he said. He advocates holding the line on cutting taxes without instituting new ones. He would welcome serving on the Budget Committee if elected.

“I’d smile all day long. I like figuring out problems,” he said.

He’d aim to keep businesses open as much as possible.

“We’re fortunate to have Democratic Gov. Mills,” he said. “Maine is doing everything right.”

“We are doing a great job as far as COVID-19 deaths,” Fitzgerald said, noting that Maine trails only Vermont for pandemic fatalities.

He’s twice mounted strong bids for the District 22 seat. His first run in 2016 netted 43% of the vote in a race with then-incumbent Jonathan Kinney of Limington. In 2018, he picked up 47% of the vote against Blier.

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