LDA head Hamel to run for congressional seat Republican: Job development among credentials

PRESQUE ISLE – Brian Hamel, president and CEO of the Loring Development Authority, has become the second Republican to join the race for U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud’s seat in Congress from Maine’s 2nd District.

Hamel, who will turn 46 Saturday, has overseen the development of the Loring Commerce Centre in Limestone since 1994. Growing economic opportunities and jobs will be the base of his campaign.

Before facing the Democrat in November, Hamel will face a primary race with Robert Stone, 55, a Lewiston businessman who also counts job creation among his priorities. Stone announced his candidacy last Monday.

“The people of Maine deserve a congressman who has the experience necessary to create good-paying jobs,” Hamel said Wednesday. “I am deeply concerned with the growing trend of job losses in the 2nd District and people being forced to leave their hometowns.

“With more than 1,500 jobs committed at the former Loring Air Force Base since the LDA’s inception, which represents over a 100 percent replacement of the civilian jobs lost when Loring closed, I have proven that with the right leadership and experience, the ‘other Maine’ can prosper, and I intend to take that message to the rest of the 2nd District,” he said in a press statement.

Hamel is best known for his efforts at Loring since 1994. Those efforts by him and his team in bringing employment – more civilian jobs than there were when the base was open – have been lauded.

It has been reported that Hamel was being courted by several Republicans to oppose Michaud.

Hamel, who made his decision public after meeting Wednesday morning with the LDA in executive session, said he will be on an unpaid leave of absence from the LDA starting March 1.

Carl Flora will become acting president and CEO of the Loring Development Authority and the Loring Commerce Centre after Hamel leaves.

Hamel’s only other excursion into politics was a school board election he won in New Hampshire before coming to Maine.

In his announcement Wednesday, Hamel cited his long record of creating jobs since he has been at the former Air Force base.

Hamel is chairman of both the board of trustees of the Maine Community College System and the Maine Winter Sports Center. He is the moderator of the Presque Isle Congregational Church, a member of the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Board of Visitors, and a corporator at The Aroostook Medical Center in Presque Isle.

Hamel and his wife, Gail, have three daughters.