Democrats compete for commissioner seat

Two Democratic candidates – Albion Goodwin of Pembroke and Daniel Swain of Machias – are vying in the June 10 primary to be their party’s nominee for the District 2 seat on the Washington County Commission.

Republican Commissioner Chris Gardner now holds the seat.

The district includes Cutler, East Machias, Eastport, Lubec, Machias, Pembroke, Perry, Pleasant Point, Whiting and the eastern Washington County portion of the Unorganized Territory.

Goodwin was born in Robbinston and has lived in Pembroke for the past 40 years. He has a large family, including his wife, five children, 13 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Goodwin is a lifelong sportsman and hunter. Gov. John Baldacci appointed him to represent Washington County on the Inland Fish and Wildlife Commission Advisory Council.

Goodwin served four consecutive terms in the Legislature.

He also spent 26 years in forest product industry management. He has experience in town government, having served as town selectman and a school board member. He is chairman of the Pembroke Planning Board. He is a past union member of UPIU Local 27 and is a Mason-Shriner of the Pembroke-Crescent Lodge No. 78.

Goodwin was a U.S. Marine and is a veteran of the Korean War era. He is a member of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Goodwin said he is committed to moving the interest of economic development for Washington County to the forefront of county government. This includes increased jobs and good pay with affordable health care for the residents of the county, he said.

He said he views the port at Eastport as an important tool of economic development for the region. He said he wants to lower municipal property taxes and reduce county spending by the use of sensible budgeting. He also wants to create a countywide electric power pool, as allowed by existing legislation, to help lower electric bills for consumers.

Daniel Swain, who is from Canaan, is a student at the University of Maine at Machias. He plans to graduate from there in May 2010 with a degree in history and minors in education and public administration.

He has worked for Aramark, a food service company, for six years, the first four years in Farmington during high school and the last two years in Machias.

During the summer he works for the American Legion’s Dirigo Boys State program and also at Camp Eagle Wing in Marion Township.

At UMM, he is a member of the student senate and serves as the officer of several clubs and organizations. He manages the campus radio station and serves on the college president’s budget and planning advisory committee. He also is helping to organize a college Democrats club at UMM.

Off campus, he is chairman of the Machias Democrats. He also is a volunteer for the Destination Imagination program at Rose Gaffney Elementary School in Machias.

Swain said that as far as issues are concerned, it’s pretty simple. When people think of Washington County in the rest of the state, he said, it is an image of a poor, undeveloped section of Maine. He said he would work to change that.

Because Washington County has such a nice landscape, he said, the county should be attracting more of a tourism economy. “It’s clear that Mainers are not welcoming of all the tourists, but I think that Washington County could really prosper with a little push in that way. I do have other ideas, as well, that I plan to share over the next couple of weeks,” he said.

Swain said he believes that the school consolidation law would be great for southern Maine, but did not make sense for Washington County. “Kids would have to be bused from one end of the county to the other every day,” he said. “If we can find a way to keep it at the administration, then it would work fine, but right now it just won’t work.”

Swain said he is opposed to a liquefied natural gas terminal because it would destroy part of the county’s resources, including its coastline and land.

“It’s true that it would create jobs, but they are low-paying jobs that could barely feed a family. We know that the top jobs would go to people outside of this area,” he said.

Swain said he believes the revisions that the Land Use Regulation Commission is looking into for the land use plan for the Unorganized Territory are a bad idea. “It sounds like it would be limiting the amount of development we can do, and we can’t afford that here in Washington County,” he said.

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