Candidates at Bangor forum address budget

Legislative candidates from Bangor did no damage to their assorted election efforts at a forum Tuesday night; neither did they steal the show from opponents.

Nine of the 11 candidates for five seats in the House and one in the Senate whose districts include Bangor attended the forum sponsored by the Penobscot County Legal Secretaries Association. Rep. Joseph Garland, the Republican from District 118, did not make it. Rep. Hugh Morrison, the Republican from District 119, had literature available, but did not participate — he is unopposed.

Many of the candidates devoted much of their opening speeches to talking about the need to restore sanity to the budget madness in Augusta — be it through encouraging business, cutting spending, or instilling in the bureaucracy a fiscal integrity. The first question from the moderator, television reporter Tim Gaier, asked candidates how they would close the $1 billion gap in the state budget over the next two years.

To start with, the Legislature needs to adopt the proposals contained in the report of the Restructuring Commission, said N. Laurence Willey, the Republican challenger of Bangor’s five-term Democratic state Sen. John Baldacci. Willey said that important parts in the report were its recommendations on total quality management and cost-benefit analysis which would force the Legislature and the bureaucracy to take a more calculating approach to solving the state’s money troubles.

Baldacci was the only incumbent to participate. He said that he did not favor extending the temporary taxes that were enacted during the last session to help clear the budgetary hurdle. He also said that the state would save money by linking entitlement benefits to income levels.

The two candidates for House District 116 took different tacks toward the solution.

“I’d rather see the temporary taxes sunset. I’m not in favor of extending them,” said Thomas Bailey, the Republican. Letting the taxes lapse would force the Legislature to do what needs doing, make spending cuts, he said.

Jane Saxl, his Democratic opponent, said that while cuts are necessary they must be made judiciously. “I’m opposed to cutting direct services,” said Saxl, who beat the incumbent Thomas Duffy in the primary.

Two candidates from District 117 had slightly different answers from their cohorts from the other side of town. Republican John Ballou and Democrat Mary Sullivan, both former mayors, are running for the seat vacated by Patricia Stevens.

The long-term solution is to increase business activity to generate more tax revenue, Ballou said. In the short term, the temporary taxes are very unpalatable, as are cuts in programs, he said. Something needs to be done “but it’s going to hurt.”

The numbers involved “are just mind-boggling,” Sullivan said. She added that her advanced degree in economics would help in sorting through the proposals to make up the shortfall.

Democrat Sean Faircloth, whose opponent in the District 118 race missed the forum, said that cuts in bureaucracy tend to start at the bottom where the employees have direct contact with the public, and that trend should be avoided this time around.

Additionally, he said he would like to see the Bureau of Intergovernmental Drug Enforcement become part of the Maine State Police to avoid costly duplication. A similar saving could be found by rolling the Agriculture, Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and Conservation departments into one organization.

Julie Winn, the Democratic candidate from District 115, part of which lies in Bangor, had to leave before the questioning started. In her opening remarks she said that while developing a course to steer through these troubled times, the Legislature must attach sufficent importance to the effect of the solutions on future generations. “Jimmy-rigging has got to go,” she said.

In his remarks, her opponent Republican G. Clifton Eames said the state has a role in many issues — the economy, the environment, education and more. “But in almost all cases (solutions) are related to the $1 billion budget gap,” he said.

No single, sweeping solution will likely be found for closing the budget gap, he said. It will take a lot of effort to find “a little here and a little there.”