Rockport man prizes early entry into politics

ROCKPORT – Looking back, Jon Duke realizes there were clues he was different from other 13-year-olds.

After all, how many teens would pass on watching “Beverly Hills 90210” and instead choose to watch coverage of the Democratic National Convention?

“I had to go upstairs to watch the conventions,” Duke remembers, as his mother watched the popular prime-time soap opera on the family’s main TV. “That was strange for a 13-year-old boy.”

It all makes sense now, though, as Duke, at 25, has embarked on a political career he models on the late Tip O’Neill credo, “All politics is local politics.”

Duke, a recent graduate of the University of Maine with a degree in political science, was elected selectman in June in his hometown of Rockport, the top vote-getter in a field of seven candidates.

“From an early age, I was interested [in politics],” Duke said. He remembers listening keenly as his mother and father debated the Mondale vs. Reagan election when he was about 6 years old.

Duke’s father, Bob, served as a selectman in Rockport and then as a commissioner for Knox County. But while the father is a Republican, the son is a Democrat.

On Sundays, when the family gathers for dinner, there are some lively political debates, he said. But since both he and his father describe themselves as moderate partisans, no family rift has developed, Duke said. “There’s some common ground between Dad and I,” he said.

In college, Duke joined the Democrat club and served as president of the Residents on Campus group.

“I became really active,” he said, and even lobbied the Legislature on behalf of students and the university, working closely with Sen. Mary Cathcart and then-Rep. Kassie Stevens.

He volunteered with now Gov. John Baldacci and served as an intern with the then-congressman in the summer of 2001.

“That was a great experience,” Duke said.

Two students with whom he roomed at college, Chris Barstow and John Thomas, are now legislators, representing Gorham and Orono, respectively.

In addition to majoring in political science, Duke had a minor in public administration, a course of study that could have led to a career as a town manager. He said some of his friends pursued careers in government at the bureaucratic level, while others ran for elected office.

At this point, Duke leans toward the elected side of government, he said. He is currently employed as a marketing coordinator for Ocean Properties, the Portsmouth, N.H.-based company that owns the Samoset Resort and other hotels around Maine and the United States.

While he readily admits to dreaming of a run for the Legislature someday, Duke takes his role as selectman seriously.

“I have a problem with fiscal irresponsibility,” he said. “This is the people’s money.”

He believes local government should be open and accessible and wants the town to communicate better with residents, possibly through a newsletter.

Duke knows voters don’t embrace candidates merely on their good intentions. He ran for a seat on the board a year ago and lost, an experience he counts as part of his political education.

He worries about the indifference that many his age have about politics, but at the same time understands the cynicism that many younger adults have about government.

“No one my age wants to be affiliated with a political party,” he said.

Instead, young adults find political community by listening to talk radio or following an Internet site that mirrors their own views, he said.

The apathy, he believes, comes from “not feeling they have a connection with the political process” and not understanding how it works. Duke believes public schools should return to a civics curriculum, which he said has been replaced by life-skills courses.

“‘People don’t understand what their taxes are going to,” he said. “People need to realize the public good is more important than the individual.”

While most of his college friends have left the state, Duke wants to stay in Rockport. He will be married next summer, and he and his fiancee are buying a home in West Rockport.

“This is where I want to be,” he said.