Three candidates are vying for the Republican nomination in House District 41: Maxwell G. Coolidge of Orland, Kenneth R. Lindell of Frankfort and Warren D. Southworth Sr. of Searsport.

The district encompasses the towns of Frankfort, Orland, Prospect, Searsport, Stockton Springs and Verona Island.

Coolidge, 27, is a 2005 graduate of College of the Atlantic and has been a cook in the region for several years. He and his wife recently opened Coastal Coffee, a small coffee and sandwich shop on Main Street in Searsport.

Maine needs to change its attitude toward business, Coolidge said. He suggested that lowering taxes and easing state regulation on businesses would provide a boost to the economy.

“We don’t just need big companies moving into the state to create jobs,” he said. “We need to create a climate that encourages entrepreneurs to start small businesses that can grow into big businesses.”

Coolidge said he favors a free-market approach to health insurance as opposed to state-funded health care.

He favors opting out of the New England energy market and joining with the Canadian Maritime Provinces as a way to ease energy costs in Maine. He also supports nuclear energy.

Lindell, 43, is a certified financial planner and runs a financial planning office in Belfast. He served one term in the 123rd Legislature and said that he has the background and experience to “get the job done from day one.” He said he believes he is the only one of the three candidates to have signed the “Taxpayers Protection Pledge,” in which he promises to oppose new taxes.

The current economic difficulties could be protracted, and Lindell said the state would have to make difficult choices to set priorities to take care of the most important needs.

“We’re going to have to have the courage to say no to worthy projects that are not going to make it to the top of the priority list,” he said.

Roads, bridges and economic development are near the top of his priority list, and getting a handle on health care will help to promote economic development and save the state money, he said. By “right-sizing” MaineCare and helping residents to be able to afford premiums in the private market, the state could save a lot of money, Lindell said.

Lindell said the economic climate will place burdens on residents and he plans to open a Constituent Service Center within the district.

He also said he would continue to advocate for privacy issues in the state, including opposing many of the provisions of the Real ID program.

Southworth, 68, retired in 2003 after working for 35 years as a writing instructor at Eastern Maine Vocational Technical Institute and Eastern Maine Technical College. He said he is a “Maine traditionalist” and believes in independence, self-reliance, responsibility, frugality, hard work and integrity.

Southworth said he is a supporter of quality education at all levels, from early childhood through the graduate level. He stressed that there are many small community schools around the state that are providing quality education in a way that generates a lot of community support and makes those schools a center for those communities.

“In public education, I’m concerned about local control,” he said. “If consolidation is a necessity, I think the people most affected by it ought to be the ones making the decisions.”

Small businesses are burdened with mandates, regulations and taxes, Southworth said.

“It’s pervasive. There’s no help to the lifeblood of the small business,” he said.

A Maine Guide since 1959, Southworth is concerned about the level of support for the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department, which, he said, subsists almost solely on license fees. He also said Maine’s environment would be an important issue in the coming years.

rhewitt@bangordailynews.net

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