Peter Mills spoke about bringing accountability and transparency to government at the Portland Republican Meet the Candidates event Thursday night. As a state senator who also runs a law firm representing small businesses in central Maine, Mills expressed his disturbance at the differences between the private and public sector. Business functions by measuring results and reporting those results. The state of Maine operates without assessing the effectiveness of dollars spent, and without reporting those numbers to the people footing the bills.
“We’re spending $29 million per year at the Dorothea Dix Hospital in Bangor to take care of 54 people. There are 350 state employees living and working there. The reason that hospital is running and operating at a deficit of $10-15 million a year is because the Governor is from Bangor.”
Mills then urged Maine Republicans to nominate a candidate who can win a general election. Having won eight consecutive general elections in Somerset County, a county that voted more heavily for Ross Perot than any other county in Maine, Mills knows how to reach independent voters.
“Four years ago every newspaper that editorialized on the topic said we would have controlled the Blaine House had I been the nominee. Give me the chance and I will not disappoint.”
Working People Vote Republican is the motto for the Maine Republican Party. Those are the people Mills has represented over the last fifteen years. Having lived and worked all across the state Mills is the “poster child for the union of the two Maines.” His motto is Mills for a Working Maine.
Watch the video of the whole speech.
Quite powerful and persuasive. For the GOP to have massive appeal it needs to elect someone who can win. And it is only from effective governing that the Republican Party can regain following among moderates and Reagan Democrats.
Saw recently how Snowe said the party left her- she did not leave the party. Maine used to be such a staunch Republican state that it never voted for FDR. These Yankee Republicans or “Rockefeller Republicans” largely were the pro-business and fiscally responsible party. These issues attract small business owners and women and youth.
There is a lot written about demographic shifts, for example those who grew up in the 1980s due to Reagan tend to support the GOP by substantial percentage points. In the age of Obama, how are the Republicans to counter and not be left behind demographically? Mills can help the party govern effectively and attract women and youth.
Bill Cohen, Margaret Chase Smith were two Maine Republican moderates. Add Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe to the mix and you have a powerful example of how Republicans can be elected in Maine. And most importantly govern effectively from the Republican playbook. Mills can get elected and govern- no one knows the budget better than him.
I commend Peter for taking comments on his site (many of the candidates aren’t.