Mayoral candidates Robert Macdonald and challengers Ben Chin, Stephen Morgan, Luke Jensen and Charles Soule filled out Sun Journal campaign profiles last month and excerpts from their answers are printed below. To read the full text of their responses, as well as the responses from all of the other candidates for Lewiston and Auburn office, go to www.sunjournal.com/election/2015.
Name:
Benjamin W. Chin
Email address:
benchinformayor@gmail.com
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/benchinformayor
Other social media?
Website: http://benchinformayor.com/
Twitter: @bchinme
Instagram: @benchinformayor
Occupation or primary source of income:
Maine People’s Alliance political director
Education:
Bates College
Family information:
My wife Nicola and I are expecting our first child on Oct. 30! We live on Kensington Terrace, a quiet street off Montello, near the Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary.
Public offices sought or held:
Candidate for mayor of Lewiston
Why are you running for office? Why should voters select you for this job?
Over the last 10 years, I’ve shown I know how to get big things done. In 2005, I helped lead the effort to stand up to our former city administrator, Jim Bennett, around the so-called “Heritage Initiative.” In 2011, I led the effort to protect same-day voter registration in Maine, gathering over 70,000 signatures in 23 days to block its repeal through a People’s Veto. In 2012, I helped lead the campaign to prevent more than 50,000 seniors and people with disabilities from losing prescription drug assistance to pay for the governor’s tax breaks for the rich. In 2013, I negotiated an additional $22 million in property tax assistance through the Property Tax Fairness Credit.
Just this year — when the governor wanted to take millions away from Lewiston in his budget — I helped lead the effort to pass a budget that actually increased education funding for Lewiston’s schools. I’m currently leading the statewide volunteer effort to gather signatures to raise Maine’s minimum wage. It’s time Lewiston had a leader with that kind of a record.
With a limited budget and knowing what you know now, what would be your top spending priority among these three services: road repair, education and public safety? And why?
I mentioned earlier that Gov. (Paul) LePage continues to use municipal revenue-sharing as his piggy bank to pay for tax breaks for the rich. Everyone looking out their window at a pothole, or wondering why a certain program isn’t offered at school, or worrying about police and fire protection, needs to know one thing: If Lewiston continues to roll over every time the governor uses us to pay for tax breaks for the rich, we are never going to have the roads, schools and public safety we deserve.
What do you like about the city budget passed this year, and what don’t you like? Was it too high, too low, just right?
The biggest problem with Lewiston’s budget is that we — like every other municipality in the state — are owed tens of millions of dollars from the state. Lewiston simply can’t do right by its property taxpayers if the state doesn’t do right by us.
Two years ago, Gov. LePage found $500 million to pay back the hospitals. It’s time that the mayors of Maine’s largest cities followed the example of teachers and hospitals in demanding that Augusta stop using municipal revenue-sharing as a piggy bank for tax breaks for the rich.
What about land-banking? Should the city be allowed to set aside parcels for specific kinds of development, say to promote retail or housing around the riverfront?
Land-banking is an interesting idea. What matters most in housing, however, is who owns it. Back when people lived in the buildings they owned, Lewiston did not have nearly the kinds of housing issues we do now. A few corporate slumlords now control so much property downtown that they would be the ninth-largest property taxpayer in the city if all their assets were combined.
What would you do to improve Lewiston’s downtown housing stock? Should the city even be involved in downtown housing? Why do you think that?
Lewiston collects more in fines from overdue library books than we do from housing code violations. That is absurd. We need to make fines on the big violations — like loss of heat and hot water in the winter, plumbing and fire safety — expensive enough to actually change the behavior of the worst landlords.
Then, we need to leverage the investment necessary to rebuild downtown.
Name:
Luke D. Jensen
Email address:
Lukedjensen@yahoo.com
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/lukeforlewiston
Occupation or primary source of income:
Banking specialist, TD Bank
Education:
B.A. international relations, Lynchburg College
Family information:
24 years old, single, fifth-generation Lewiston resident
Public offices sought or held:
Past candidate for House District 58 of the Maine Legislature, 2014; present associate member, Lewiston Historic Preservation Review Board
Why are you running for office? Why should voters select you for this job?
Lewiston is my home. As a young person who earned a bachelor’s degree and returned home to start a professional career, and as the only mayoral candidate born and raised here in Lewiston, I will bring a unique perspective to the mayor’s office that has never been there before.
We absolutely need to make Lewiston a city where our young people want to stay and invest in the community, which will in turn make Lewiston a more attractive place for young individuals and families.
With a limited budget and knowing what you know now, what would be your top spending priority among these three services: road repair, education or public safety? And why?
Public safety will be my top priority once sworn into office. Our firefighters are needed now more than ever, yet they don’t have the resources they require to be their very best. I will prioritize the addition of resources to the Fire Department, which they are certainly asking for.
What do you like about the city budget passed this year, and what don’t you like? Was it too high, too low, just right?
I commend city councilors for putting so much effort toward lessening the blow to taxpayers, and look forward to working with councilors on new ways we can make city government more efficient and cost-effective. Property taxpayers, especially our seniors on fixed incomes, deserve and expect that of us.
What about land-banking? Should the city be allowed to set aside parcels for specific kinds of development, say to promote retail or housing around the riverfront?
While I dislike the idea of common use of land-banking by the city, I remain cautious as to eliminating a tool at the city’s disposal to achieve the important goal of developing the riverfront area.
What would you do to improve Lewiston’s downtown housing stock? Should the city even be involved in downtown housing? Why do you think that?
I’d like to see less low-income housing downtown and more options for young professionals who would enjoy living in a newly revitalized part of the city. Improving the downtown area’s housing makes Lewiston more attractive to individuals and businesses that may wish to relocate to our city.
Name:
Robert E. Macdonald
Occupation or primary source of income:
Retired
Education:
BS, Northeastern University
Family information:
I am married to Virginia and we have four children and five grandchildren.
Public offices sought or held:
Current mayor
Why are you running for office? Why should voters select you for this job?
I am running to keep the progress the city achieved over the last 3½ years continue. I further am running to hopefully submit and pass long-overdue welfare reform. I am also running to stop one of the current mayoral candidates from turning Lewiston into a welfare destination.
With a limited budget and knowing what you know now, what would be your top spending priority among these three services: road repair, education or public safety? And why?
Sorely needed road repair and public safety will have to go on the back burner. How can we fund things that are needed when we have a $17 million special education tab we have to fund? That’s $17 million out of a $60 million budget.
What do you like about the city budget passed this year, and what don’t you like? Was it too high, too low, just right?
A $27-plus mill rate is much too high. Both the council and School Committee members did a good job keeping it under $28 mills. Mandates from the state and federal governments, the killing and rewriting of welfare bills submitted by the city, and the fact that we are a service center community will continue to drive up taxes.
What about land-banking? Should the city be allowed to set aside parcels for specific kinds of development, say to promote retail or housing around the riverfront?
Yes. We are in desperate need of businesses and land-banking. Let the city control what type of businesses and/or housing are built in an area.
What would you do to improve Lewiston’s downtown housing stock? Should the city even be involved in downtown housing? Why do you think that?
We must continue to tear down buildings that are uninhabitable. We further need to find a source of funding in order to help current landlords fix up their buildings.
One blighted neighborhood will overshadow 10 vibrant neighborhoods, thus gaining Lewiston a poor reputation. Lastly, the working poor need decent housing; they are the cogs that keep any city running.
Name:
Stephen J. Morgan
Email address:
steve@stevemorgangroup.com
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/SteveMorganForMayor
Occupation or primary source of income:
Real estate agent
Education:
Washington County Vocational Technical Center
Family information:
Married to Dina (Donohue) Morgan for almost 30 years; daughter Nicole, son Wade; five grandchildren — Ava, Isaiah, Josiah, Regan and Dailen
Public offices sought or held:
Currently running for mayor, past president of the Lewiston City Council for two years; past chairman of the Lewiston Planning Board for five years; past member of the State Board of Property Tax Review, five years.
Why are you running for office? Why should voters select you for this job?
My goal would be to encourage and work with our economic development team and the major developers in and outside the area to develop the areas around Exit 80, the Bates Mill buildings and the riverfront. This will create increased funding for a tax base that will help other areas of the city improve (i.e. downtown, roads, education etc.).
With a limited budget and knowing what you know now, what would be your top spending priority among these three services: road repair, education or public safety? And why?
Public safety first and foremost. Safety is looked at by just about anyone looking to move here. We need strong police and fire departments in order to accomplish this.
What do you like about the city budget passed this year, and what don’t you like? Was it too high, too low, just right?
Again this year the final budget is running too high and the current mayor and City Council did a great job at trying to make the numbers work in favor of the whole of the city, considering what they had to work with.
What about land-banking? Should the city be allowed to set aside parcels for specific kinds of development, say to promote retail or housing around the riverfront?
Yes, if they deem it necessary. People need to know that sometimes, due to confidentiality, upcoming transactions and negotiations that were private and only talked about in executive sessions need to be heeded.
That said, some issues need to be brought to the citizens’ attention with that kind of an explanation and a promise that they will explain why they did what they did at a later date.
What would you do to improve Lewiston’s downtown housing stock? Should the city even be involved in downtown housing? Why do you think that?
I, more than most people, understand tenant rights as well as landlord rights. This is a tough tightrope to walk, especially when the unemployment rate is high, due to a crushed economy.
Finding a fix-all answer to this has to be a mix of tenants, landlords and code enforcement working together to come to agreeable solutions.
Name:
Charles Arthur Soule
Email address:
onlinewebfire@yahoo.com
Public offices sought or held:
Seeking mayor.
Candidate Soule referred to his blog, www.soule2015mayor.wordpress.com, to answer all of the Sun Journal’s questions.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
