GOP House hopefuls face off in debate

BANGOR – Tensions in the Middle East, the need for more jobs locally and the negative impact of free trade agreements on Maine industry were key topics at a Friday debate featuring Republican contenders for the 2nd Congressional District seat.

With only 10 days to go until the June 11 primary, Richard Campbell of Orrington, Kevin Raye of Perry and Tim Woodcock of Bangor sparred on issues from sharpening homeland security to inspiring more Maine youths to further their education at colleges or technical schools. The half-hour debate will be aired at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 1, to be followed by a second showing at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 2, on Maine Public Broadcasting stations. The program will be broadcast at 1 p.m. Monday, June 3, on Maine Public Radio.

Noticeably absent from the morning taping at the Maine PBS television studio in Bangor was Stavros Mendros of Lewiston. The GOP candidate called as the show was being taped, and told Don Carrigan, executive producer of public affairs, that he thought the taping was to be held at 1 p.m.

The candidates fielded questions posed by the show’s host, John Greenman; television news personality Rob Caldwell of WCSH-TV in Portland; and Susan Chisholm, deputy news director for Maine Public Radio. The effort is part of an Election 2002 partnership between Maine Public Broadcasting, WCSH 6, WLBZ 2 and the Bangor Daily News.

In response to a taped question by a Maine resident, the candidates all said the state needs more research and development dollars, improved access to technology and more transportation funding to bring the state into the 21st century. They all decried the lack of an affordable prescription payment program for senior citizens.

Responding to a question on foreign affairs, Raye termed tensions between India and Pakistan a “flash point” because of the threat of nuclear weapons. Raye worked for more than 17 years with Maine’s senior U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe before running for Congress himself. He said he worked on a committee investigating the Central Intelligence Agency’s role in the Iran-Contra scandal and said the role of intelligence gathering is “critically important” in the current world situation.

Answering a different question, Raye called for the dismantling of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, an agency that is ‘”dysfunctional” and “mismanaged,” he said.

A graduate of Bates College, Raye said his political experience means he would “hit the ground running” if elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Woodcock, responding to a question on Canadian tariffs that have made negative impacts on the Maine wood industry, called for a regional alliance between Maine, parts of Vermont, and New York to strengthen political clout both in Washington and other areas. Woodcock said a regional alliance could “bring Canadians to the table” to talk about ways to enhance the wood industry. A similar regional alliance has united 13 states in the Appalachian section of the country and brought more than 100 counties there out of severe economic distress, according to Woodcock. He said the lack of opportunity in Maine and resulting exodus of young working people from the state is a key problem. Woodcock graduated from Bowdoin College and the University of Maine School of Law.

A member of the staff of former U.S. Sen. William Cohen, Woodcock served as associate counsel on the Senate’s Iran-Contra Committee. He later worked as a federal prosecutor in Bangor, has served on the Bangor City Council, and was mayor of Bangor in 1997-98.

A businessman and a developer, Campbell said he would focus on the economy of the 2nd District “like a laser.” He favors dismantling the Internal Revenue Service, and immigration profiling, Campbell said in response to questions. The tragedy of the terror attacks of Sept. 11 makes heightened security necessary, with an eye to safety rather than civil rights in many cases, according to Campbell.

“Political correctness has gone too far. We need to profile these people and stop them,” Campbell said.

Campbell served in the Maine Legislature for eight years and has been in the construction industry for 30 years. A graduate of Eastern Maine Technical College, he has served in the National Guard.

Mendros’ qualifications were read even though the seat reserved for him was vacant on the set. Mendros later called the mix-up a “scheduling conflict, a miscommunication.” He said while his staff in Bangor had received an e-mail about the 9 a.m. start time, the last conversation he had with a PBS staff member “more than two weeks ago” indicated the taping would start at 1 p.m. and that he should be at the studio at 12:45 p.m.

Mendros called the snafu “unfortunate” and said he has asked for some airtime on PBS “to make it up in an interview or something.”

“I was certainly looking forward to it,” Mendros said of the debate, the only one to be televised between the Republican candidates.

A debate between Democrats running for the congressional seat soon to be vacated by Rep. John Baldacci was aired last week. Baldacci is running for governor.

Carrigan later said he would discuss Mendros’ request for airtime with Kate Arno, vice president of television services, on the station’s legal responsibility in the matter. As far as he knew, PBS staff had had “multiple communications with that campaign that had provided the correct time,” Carrigan said.

Carrigan said he had been at the station for eight years and had “done a lot of debates in that time, at least 30.” He also worked on debates as a former television news anchor and reporter.

“I don’t recall this ever happening,” Carrigan said.