LEWISTON — Ask political insiders outside of the Twin Cities and they’ll tell you: This year, Lewiston’s mayoral race is a contest between two guys: Bob and Ben.
But many locals wonder whether the race may leave room in the middle for more centrist candidates: Luke, Steve or Charles.
On the right, there is the incumbent, Robert Macdonald, Lewiston’s mayor for the past four years. He’s known for his criticism of welfare layabouts and goody-two-shoes liberals who are ruining the city’s downtown for the hardworking urban poor.
From his weekly newspaper column in the Twin City Times to appearances on Fox News and right-wing radio, his conservative views are well-known in and outside L-A.
On the left is Bates College grad Benjamin Chin, political director for the liberal Maine People’s Alliance. His personal political network has helped him raise an unprecedented $33,000 from around the country as of the end of June, and he has undoubtedly raised much more since then.
With his political podcast, network of MPA supporters and a five-point plan targeting the city’s landlords, help for new refugees and putting new public money into revitalizing the downtown, he’s brought a progressive message to Lewiston politics.
But there are three other men who’d like a moment of your time: local Realtor Stephen Morgan; Lewiston High School’s 2009 class president, Luke Jensen; and consistent candidate Charles Soule.
Each is counting on his reputation in Lewiston to bring in voters, making them not just third-place candidates and also-rans, but perhaps Lewiston’s next mayor.
“I’d like to think I’ll be the candidate, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing this,” Morgan said. “Just the way I’ve carried myself over the years and my own realism, I think it gives me an edge.”
All five are expected to be on the stage Monday night as the Sun Journal hosts a mayoral forum at 6 p.m. in Callahan Hall, upstairs at the Lewiston Public Library. A live feed of the forum and discussion will be online at www.sunjournal.com and later rebroadcast on Great Falls TV.
Benjamin Chin
“The way we’re going to win is if we present ideas to voters and hope they like what we say enough to show up and vote,” Chin said. “I’m most concerned that we are out there, adequately making our case to the people. I think if we do a good job there, we’re going to win.”
Chin doesn’t seem to have any trouble getting his message out. His big campaign budget has let him send surveys and campaign materials across the city and his cadre of local volunteers helped him knock on thousands of doors.
“I’m proud of the infrastructure we’ve built, but it’s a mistake to think it’s about the mechanics of the campaign,” he said. “It’s more about the fact that we are talking about real issues that are actually reflecting the concerns people have. We’re about shaking things up in Lewiston and having a real vision about what happens in Lewiston.”
His plan would promote resident-owned co-op housing downtown, a city office to help new immigrants find their place in Lewiston and citywide investment in solar panels to generate local energy and jobs. He also calls for a downtown residential zone to promote rehabilitation, investment and mixed-use investment along Lisbon Street.
He would pay for his plan with more state revenue in the form of sales tax revenue-sharing and homestead exemptions, bonds, federal block-grant money plus fines and fees on delinquent landlords and blighted properties.
Robert Macdonald
For the sitting mayor, that’s the kind of thing Lewiston does not need. In his online profile, Macdonald said he’s running specifically to keep the city from turning into a welfare destination.
“I’m for tightening welfare laws because we are being hurt by them,” Macdonald said. “We’re not being hurt by the Somali refugees. Between asylum-seekers and domestic people, our budget is getting killed. They come in from out of state because we have a great special-ed system, but the poor people here are paying for it.”
Macdonald said the city doesn’t need big plans. It needs government to get out of the way. His biggest target for the past few years has been welfare and the takers he sees living off taxpayers.
“It could be fixed so easily,” he said. “There are people who collect welfare and I won’t question it. It’s a temporary thing to help them get over the hump. But the problem is the people who go from welfare place to welfare place and take up residence. They send their kids to our schools and we pay for them.”
Macdonald said he has a good working relationship with Maine’s state and national politicians and that’s valuable. Last year, for example, he learned that some Lisbon Street developments might have been hurt if Gov. Paul LePage cut historic restoration tax credits. He called the governor and the tax credits survived.
“Because of that, these businesses were able to get going,” he said. “I don’t know if the four people running against me can do that, but I’m on good terms with the governor and with (U.S. Sen.) Susan Collins and (U.S. Rep) Bruce Poliquin.”
Stephen Morgan
Morgan is a former Lewiston city councilor who gave up his seat in 2011 to focus on his business. With the economy rebounding and home sales up, Morgan said he is ready to step back into local politics.
“I’ve always been involved in something,” he said. “I’ve seen, from having served on the council, that the mayor gets a louder voice. He doesn’t get a vote unless there’s a tie, but he does get the last word, and sometimes that can influence decisions.”
Morgan said he’d like to see renewed city efforts to bring retail to the area around Turnpike Exit 80. There is very little retail in Lewiston, he said.
“Since Sears closed in the Lewiston Mall, there’s no place to buy underwear in Lewiston,” he said. “There’s no place to buy a dress, unless Marden’s is having a sale.”
But otherwise, he’s happy to continue the city’s policies of the past few years — measured economic development balanced with efforts to lower taxes and promote the blocks around the downtown riverfront.
Chin’s five-point plan is unrealistic, he said, because it relies on bonds and revenue-sharing being freed up by the state Legislature.
“A lot of it lines up with money that I’m not sure he can get,” Morgan said. “It’s like all the stars have to fall into alignment. I’m not sure it’s as easy as he thinks it will be.”
And Macdonald can be too outspoken.
“I think I’m a little more polished then Bob Macdonald,” Morgan said. “I don’t disagree with all of his ideas, but he can come across a little gruff. You have to be able to bring people together without yelling.”
He hopes his years in the city and his council experience will give him an edge, taking votes from both Chin and Macdonald.
“I don’t think anyone will get 50 percent on the first ballot,” he said. “I think it’ll go to a run-off, and I’m hoping to be one of the last two.”
Luke Jensen
Jensen says he’ll be a 21st-century mayor, “the kind we haven’t had before. I’ll be more involved, more community-based, and I’ll try to incorporate more technology and the way the world really works today.”
Jensen is a banking specialist at TD Bank’s local call center and the only candidate born and raised in Lewiston. That gives him an edge, he said.
“I know what it’s like to grow up in Lewiston, to walk these streets and hang out with friends and play in the woods,” he said. “I know what it’s like to go off and get a college education and then come back to start a career.”
But while the others have seemingly organized efforts behind them, Jensen’s has been low-key. He kicked off his campaign Friday.
Charles Soule
This is the seventh time Soule has run for the mayor’s chair, and he’s sought other offices as well, including Lewiston City Council and the Joint Lewiston-Auburn Charter Commission. He refers people with questions and comments about his campaign positions and issues to his blog, www.soule2015mayor.wordpress.com.
Lewiston mayoral debate: 6 p.m. Monday
LEWISTON — The field of five mayoral candidates will square off Monday, Oct. 5, at a live public forum hosted by the Sun Journal, the Lewiston Public Library and the law firm of Norman Hanson & DeTroy.
The candidates are Mayor Robert Macdonald and challengers Luke Jensen, Ben Chin, Stephen Morgan and Charles Soule.
The event, to be moderated by Lewiston attorney Shane Wright, is scheduled for 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Callahan Hall, upstairs in the Lewiston Public Library. A live video feed of the debate will be shown on www.sunjournal.com.
Sunjournal.com will also host a live blog during the debate where users can discuss the debate as it unfolds.
Voters will go to the polls to elect a mayor Tuesday, Nov. 3.
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