Republicans vie for House District 31 seat

In the June 10 primary, Judy Alexander of Calais and Martin Ingham of Robbinston will vie to be the Republican nominee for the House District 31 seat now held by Rep. Anne Perry, D-Calais.

The district includes Baileyville, Baring, Calais, Charlotte, Indian Township, Perry, Pleasant Point, Robbinston and part of the Unorganized Territory of northern Washington County.

Alexander has a bachelor of science degree in accounting and a master’s of business administration from Georgetown University. After 39 years of owning and operating a tax and accounting business, she retired to pursue a career in politics.

Twice she was elected mayor of Calais.

Alexander said she believes that her extensive background in accounting and taxation will help her understand the state budget process and what it takes to keep spending in check.

Her key areas of concern are education, taxes and health care. “These are the issues that affect everyone’s life,” she said. “But now add to that the burden of high fuel prices both at the pump and in the home heating arena.”

Alexander maintains that the current governor and Legislature have failed the people of Maine and Washington County in each of those three areas.

“Dirigo was supposed to cure the health care crisis in Maine,” she said. “Instead, it has not been universally effective and is causing the state to hemorrhage its precious financial resources. The state does not belong in the insurance business.”

Alexander maintains that if insurance regulations were relaxed somewhat, there would be a more competitive insurance company market, which would lead to lower premiums. She said that New Hampshire has 13 insurance companies competing in that state, compared with only two or three in Maine. “The same policy in New Hampshire costs half of what it does in Maine,” she said.

Alexander said she believes that the education formula is a joke. “Each and every community in District 31 is experiencing reduced funding, which brings us to the subject of taxes,” she said.

The candidate maintains that with the present school funding formula, communities are being forced to pay more in property taxes.

Alexander charges that the current Legislature has continued to increase taxes and fees in order to support its spend and then “tax some more” policies.

Alexander has been married for 27 years and has five children and 12 grandchildren.

Ingham said he was born and raised in Washington County and is a graduate of the “school of hard knocks.” He has worked as a self-employed contractor since the age of 18. Since 2002, he has operated a small mail-order coin business and last year had his novel “Virtual Wiles” published. He said it has received praise from readers and critics.

The Robbinston man said he was running for the House seat because he believes that “common citizens need to get into politics and take back their government.”

“I got tired of waiting for someone else to stand up and do it, so I figured I’d better take my own advice and give it a shot,” he said. “Other than that, I’m doing it because we need some real representation for District 31 from someone who knows how hard it is to work and survive in Washington County.”

Among his key issues for fixing Maine’s economy is lower taxes. If the state seriously cut taxes, he said, it would increase the amount of tax revenue the state takes in because people would have more money to spend. He said he would cut the state income tax in half, “though that may be a little too ambitious for the other legislators,” he said.

Ingham said he would repeal recent tax hikes on beer, wine and soda.

As a member of the National Rifle Association, he said he would fight gun control. “I am sickened by the growing number of anti-gun politicians in Augusta who are growing more brazen each year, submitting bills that seek to limit and eliminate our constitutional right to keep and bear arms,” he said.

Ingham said he was a supporter of liquefied natural gas and efforts to build a terminal in Robbinston.

He said he is concerned about protecting parental rights. “I believe parents have a right to know if their child is getting birth control pills, and no minor should be allowed an abortion without parental consent,” he said.

Ingham is married and has two children.

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