WINTERPORT – A political newcomer and a former legislator will square off in the June 13 primary for the right to represent the Democratic Party in the race for House District 42.

Educator Donna Gilbert and former three-term state representative Joe Brooks are both vying for the opportunity to take on their fellow Winterport resident, Republican incumbent Jeff Kaelin in November. Kaelin has represented the district for the past four years.

District 42 is composed of the Waldo County towns of Brooks, Jackson, Monroe, Swanville, Waldo and Winterport. Primary races are not rare but are hardly the norm. Of the 151 Maine house districts, 20 have primary contests this year.

Although new to a statehouse campaign, Gilbert was elected to the Winterport Charter Commission and served as its chairman. She also serves on the town’s budget committee and was a co-founder of the Cove Brook Watershed Council and served as its president for five years. She said this week that while she had considered running for town council in the past, she decided to throw her hat in the ring for the legislative race after being approached by fellow Democrats who urged her to run.

“I decided that this was an opportunity that was kind of handed to me and I decided to do it,” Gilbert said. “I have a lot of skills and experience and I know I can make a difference.”

Brooks, on the other hand, needs no introduction to the voters. He represented House District 42 from 1996 to 2002. He was unsuccessful in his run for the state senate in 2002 and lost a recount to Kaelin by four votes in 2004. He also serves on the town budget committee as well as the planning board and numerous other committees and community groups. Brooks believes he has the experience needed to represent the district and help the state deal with its problems.

“I think the legislature in the coming year is going to run into some very thorny issues that someone with experience can lend a great deal of background to,” Brooks said. “Health care and tax reform are major issues and having experience with both of those issues is going to be critically important to solving those problems.”

Gilbert also cited health care and taxes as issues that are of concern to the people she has spoken to while campaigning throughout the district. She said she has met with a lot of people since deciding to run, and that to a person, property tax relief was foremost on their minds.

“Everyone is concerned. When you sit in someone’s living room and hear them say there is a real frustration about high property taxes you know how important that is to them,” Gilbert said.

One way to reduce the property tax burden, she said, would be to revamp the sales tax. She said that sales tax reform was critical, although she would draw the line on placing a sales tax on food. A number of items and services that are currently exempt from sales taxes could be reviewed. She also said she would support restoring the snack tax.

“I think that would be a good way to boost revenue,” she said. “I certainly support some kind of tax reform.”

Brooks said the concept of tax reform has been raised during the legislative session for as long as he could remember. He said given the events facing the state today, “it was about time” the politicians acted on it.

“Property tax is the only tax that is breaking our backs. The sales tax is a less regressive tax but every effort to reform taxes have been fought off by groups that don’t want us to expand the sales tax base,” he said. “It is time that the lawmakers … come to terms with it. There are several good proposals but you have to have the guts to do it.”

Brooks said health care was another issue that needed to be looked at. He said he served six years on the Health and Human Services Committee when he was in the legislature as well as having worked on the task force to provide low-cost prescription drugs for the elderly.

Brooks described himself as a “limited supporter” of Dirigo Health because of the decision to allow Anthem to manage the program. He said he opposed the decision to sell Blue Cross to Anthem and was dismayed by the fact that the private insurer’s president was recently handed a $45 million bonus.

“I’ve always supported single payer health care but the state can’t afford it,” said Brooks.

Gilbert said Dirigo Health deserved a chance to succeed. She said that as a teacher she would prepare a lesson plan in advance but when she presented it to the class she would learn that sometimes people have to revise their plans.

“That’s how I view Dirigo Health. You’ve got to have a plan but you’ve got to use it first before you decide it needs changing,” said Gilbert. “I am a supporter of Dirigo Health and I think it needs to be given a chance. I believe it is making some progress. I think it’s going in the right direction and I think it needs more time. We are the only state that is doing this, but it does need some work.”

As for challenging a fellow Democrat in the primary, Gilbert said she felt that it was time for a change.

“I know Joe, I campaigned for Joe and I have a lot of respect for Joe,” she said. “It’s intimidating [taking on someone with strong name recognition in the district] but I feel I am enough of an alternative. I’ll do what I think needs to be done and I’ll see what happens.”

While Brooks said that everyone has the option of running for office, he declined to give his thoughts on Gilbert’s challenge.

“Having opposition in the primary has brought about more interest in this election. But I do believe that having two people run in the primary tends to split up the support for the Democrat,” said Brooks. “Whoever the voters send to the legislature they should first consider experience because this will be the year that they will have to have a person with experience. I believe I can represent the voters appropriately.”

Both Brooks and Gilbert are running as Clean Election candidates.

“I think it’s wonderful,” Gilbert said. “You don’t have to ask people for more than $5. I think that is more democratic.”