FORT KENT – A former Democratic congressman from Indiana was in northern Maine Monday pushing for the election of Sen. John Kerry as president in order to stem the loss of jobs in the region.

Jim Jontz, president emeritus of Americans for Democratic Action Inc., discussed the loss of American manufacturing jobs with local state officeholders and members of several unions. He noted 641 workers from Aroostook County have lost industrial jobs since September 2002.

He showed a list that noted Maine has lost 12,547 jobs at 178 locations since 2000. Jontz claims most of the jobs have been lost because of trade agreements.

“The present administration is helping companies move where the cost of workers is lower,” Jontz said of President Bush. “He has more plans in the pipelines that will send more jobs elsewhere.

“There is a significant difference between the president and John Kerry on trade,” he said. “Kerry realizes that current policies are not working.”

Rep. Troy Jackson, D-Fort Kent, believed Monday that the debate between U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud and his Republican opponent, Brian Hamel, brought Jontz’s Washington, D.C.- based group to northern Maine Monday.

Jontz said Maine is one of eight states his group is working in the two weeks before the election. They are speaking to people in more than 50 communities in the eight states.

“We are focusing on communities where the loss of jobs hurt more, communities where economies are less diverse and job losses hurt more,” Jontz said.

Jackson and Rep. William Smith, D-Van Buren, met with Jontz at Presque Isle.

Jontz did not know who would be at his Monday night meeting at Fort Kent. He was expecting to be at the Michaud-Hamel debate, and then he was off for Missouri for meetings there Tuesday.

“The loss of jobs is certainly an issue in northern Maine,” Jackson said before a meeting with Jontz at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. “A lot of people don’t want to get involved with workers’ rights.

“The president is not on-board on a lot of issues involving workers’ rights,” Jackson said. “I firmly believe trade agreements are killing the working class in Maine. The differences are just too different between countries for them to work for Americans.”

Jackson said some efforts to help workers in Maine have come up against international trade agreements, and Maine workers are losing.

“Lost jobs are replaced with substandard jobs,” Jackson said.