HAMPDEN – Three well-known community members will vie for the Republican nomination in House District 39 in the June 10 primary election.

Hampden Town Councilors Rick Briggs, 47, and Andre Cushing, 49, will face fellow Hampden resident and political newcomer Carol Duprey, 44, in the primary. District 39 includes the towns of Dixmont, Hampden and Newburgh.

Briggs, a lifelong resident of Hampden, has served on the Town Council for 10 years and as mayor for eight. He has served on the SAD 22 building and budget committees and the Penobscot Valley Council of Governments’ board of directors. Briggs, a former firefighter, is the president and co-owner of Blue Hill Pyrotechnics and Blue Hill Limousine in Hampden.

While he has considered running for years, Briggs said this is the right time for him personally and professionally. Briggs and his wife, Janet, have two children.

High state taxes and governmental spending are key issues for Briggs.

“There is no question that we have a spending problem,” he said Tuesday.

Briggs has a reputation as a fiscal conservative, he said, and added that he brings a desire to stimulate the state’s business climate so that Maine children can remain here and raise families.

Cushing has lived in Hampden for nearly seven years with his wife, Gwen, and three children. In addition to serving on the council, he is vice president of the Hampden Business Association, a member of the Hampden Kiwanis Club, past director of the Bangor Rotary Club, past president of Eastern Maine Medical Center’s Children’s Miracle Network board, and a member of other community organizations.

Cushing, a real estate agent for ERA Dawson-Bradford and owner of Colonial Contracting Corp., a home construction business, said the leaders in Augusta have to work toward government efficiency and fiscal responsibility.

“The state has to embrace the concept of economic development,” he said Tuesday. “Not by throwing more money at it, but by supporting companies like Cianbro and Eastern Maine Healthcare and providing them with the tools they need. The government should be a facilitator, not initiator of economic development.”

Although new to politics herself, Duprey is married to the current District 39 representative, Brian Duprey, who has reached his term limit. Duprey, 44, has lived in Hampden with her husband and five children for 13 years. Before opening Little Angels Daycare and Preschool in six locations, Duprey served in the U.S. Navy as an anti-submarine warfare specialist during Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield.

If elected, she hopes to make Maine more business-friendly and health insurance more affordable. As a solution to high health care premiums, Duprey suggests, in part, allowing Maine people to purchase plans in other states.

“Being a business owner and seeing all of the excessive taxes and regulations that businesses have to endure in Maine has made me understand why we are one of the most unfriendly states to do business [in],” Duprey said in an e-mail. “This needs to change. In order for us to create high-paying jobs like our neighbors in New Hampshire enjoy, we must remove regulatory burdens, lower corporate income tax rates, lower energy costs, and the biggest thing is to lower property and income taxes.”

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