LEWISTON — A Mechanic Falls Democrat has entered the contest for Gov. Paul LePage’s appointment to the Androscoggin County Commission.
Whether he wins against a pair of Republican candidates — former Auburn City Councilor Ron Potvin and Jason Levesque — newcomer Lawrence McCarthy, 54, promises to campaign next spring for the seat.
“I’m committed to that, if I get the appointment or not,” McCarthy said. “I feel it’s time to have a post-partisan approach to the problems that are facing the county.”
McCarthy hasn’t held elected in office in Maine before.
However, he held a variety of posts in his native Millis, Mass., a suburb of Boston. He served as a selectman and on the Planning Board and Board of Assessors.
Since moving to the local area in January 2010, after spending much of his life as a visitor to Maine, he has hoped to play a role.
“I know I’m from away,” he said.
He currently serves as a maintenance worker for Auburn Parks and Recreation. Among his duties is maintenance of Ingersoll Ice Arena. He even drives the Zamboni.
“I believe I can make a difference by having a voice and a vote on the Androscoggin County Commission rather than complaining at the kitchen table,” he said.
LePage will be charged with making the appointment next month when Commissioner Jonathan LaBonte steps down to take on his role as the newly elected mayor of Auburn.
The appointment would last for the remaining year of LaBonte’s four-year term.
McCarthy said he has been listening to the debate over dispatching and said most of the politics don’t address regular folks’ concerns. Years of work by several groups have yet to result in an answer as a pay structure is debated and options are compared, from maintaining the county’s dispatching center to merging with Lewiston-Auburn 911 to sending everything to Lisbon.
“People don’t care about who answers the phone,” McCarthy said. “They care about how fast help gets there.”
As for the county building and its issues, McCarthy said he is learning. He went inside for the first time Wednesday and talked with the county clerk and the maintenance supervisor.
He said he hopes the building can be stabilized without spending millions of dollars. One expert estimate of more than $36 million is “outrageous,” he said.
“That’s too much to even be considered,” he said.
If that kind of money were to be spent on a public building in Auburn, it ought to be on a school, he said.
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