ELLSWORTH – A retired educator from Ellsworth has announced his intention to run as a Republican against Sen. Olympia Snowe in her bid for re-election to the U.S. Senate this year.

S. Charles Tamboia, 72, says he’s just not happy with the direction the country is moving in these days. Despite not having held public office before, Tamboia says he has the qualifications, experience and determination to make meaningful changes at the national level.

“I’ve always been a person who looks at a problem and says there’s got to be a better way,” Tamboia said in a phone interview Monday. He began Monday to collect the signatures he needs in order to face off against Snowe in the Republican primary in June.

With his wife, Lorraine, Tamboia moved to a small farm in Ellsworth from Greenwich, Conn., in 1988. Before the move, he taught high school science in White Plains, N.Y., for 27 years.

Tamboia is quick to identify the national issues that motivate him to enter the political arena. At the top of his list is the federal trade imbalance and his conviction that if things don’t change “the bottom will fall out of the financial market.”

He also feels the federal government must assume a more active role in protecting pension funds so that companies such as Enron can’t sabotage employee retirement plans. “This can’t be left to corporate CEOs,” he maintained.

Tamboia says U.S. borders must be effectively secured in order to prevent future terrorist attacks in this country, and that military veterans’ health benefits should be doubled.

Health care coverage for all Americans could be provided if public contributions to disaster efforts in other parts of the world were scaled back, and if the U.S. military would withdraw its forces from Germany, Korea and other areas where American troops aren’t needed, Tamboia said.

He favors mandatory 25-years-to-life sentencing for convicted child molesters. “You can’t be lenient with this,” he cautioned. “These people can’t be redeemed.”

He supports better enforcement of all traffic safety laws and automatic one-year jail terms for first-time drunken drivers.

In addition to his teaching career, Tamboia has owned his own auto repair shop, sorted mail, served as a volunteer firefighter and raised five children as a single parent. He served in the Army during the Korean War and earned college degrees from the State University of New York and Columbia University.

Tamboia said his extensive education and career in teaching science will stand him in good stead representing the environmental and industrial interests of the state of Maine. “I don’t need anyone else to interpret scientific reports for me,” he said. “I can read them myself.”

Tamboia has established a $5,000 campaign fund using his own money and said he will not be aggressively seeking campaign donations. “An awful lot of politicians get a dirty name [because of their fundraising practices],” he said. “I want to do something different and maybe just get past that whole issue.”

Tamboia emphasized he will conduct a positive political campaign and has nothing negative to say regarding Snowe, Maine’s popular Republican incumbent. He says his chances of succeeding against Snowe in the June primary are “really good,” citing his years of work experience, military service and other life experiences.

Tamboia has established a Web site at www.scharlestamboia.com

Should he capture the primary election, Tamboia would square off against the winner of the Democratic runoff. To date, two Democrats have announced their candidacy: Bangor lawyer Eric Mehnert and Dixmont activist Jean Hay Bright. Maine Senate Majority Leader Michael Brennan of Portland, a Democrat, also has expressed interest in the race, but has not yet launched a campaign.

Snowe, a moderate Republican and a native of Augusta, is nearing the end of her second term in the U.S. Senate. She served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1978 to 1994 and in the Legislature from 1973 to 1978. She has never lost an election and enjoys high approval ratings in her home state.