Posted on 01/12/2004 6:38:38 PM PST by bogeybob
Bob Stone Announces Bid for Congress
Press Release
Bob Stone for Congress
For Immediate Release
January 11, 2004
Bob Stone of Lewiston is announcing his candidacy for the Republican nomination in Maine’s 2nd Congressional district.
Stone, a Lewiston native and businessman, said his focus as Congressman will be to reverse the stunning decline in the 2nd district’s economy; to create a positive environment for jobs; to support President George W. Bush in our on-going, global War on Terror and to lower Federal income taxes.
A graduate of Lewiston High School, Stone earned a Bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Maine at Orono, an education paid for by working in Lewiston’s textile mills. In the years following, Stone worked with Mainers all over the 2nd District in his 30- year career in banking. He has served on numerous boards and committees and was instrumental in preserving Lewiston’s historic Bates Mill for re-development into office space. For his work on the Bates project, Stone was awarded the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce Community Service Leadership Award.
“A strong, vibrant jobs market is essential to the future of our children and grandchildren. We can no longer chase around from plant closing to plant closing and offer re-training to our beleaguered workers. While that is laudable, it is just not enough for people who have devoted their working lives to become the backbone of our state. We need a proactive approach by a Congressman who has actually met a payroll and looked after the needs of his employees ” said Stone.
Stone is married 30 years, the father of three grown children and grandfather of two. “My granddaughters are being raised out of state. I am sure there are thousands of grandparents in Maine that have to settle for a phone call from the kids. It doesn’t have to be that way,” said Stone. “I will vote for the best interests of Maine children, both here and living away, rather than for the best interests of some out-of-state financial supporter”
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For More Information:
Bob Stone (207) 784-1099 or bstone@adelphia.net
and here is something for you Freepers...
I am pleased to announce that I am seeking the Republican nomination for Maine’s 2nd congressional seat.
The upcoming years will determine the kind of world my children and grandchildren will live in. I simply cannot sit on the sidelines and entrust the future of all of Maine’s children to elected officials that are more concerned with special interests than our children’s best interests.
We have a beautiful state, rich in resources, people, and quality of life. We have miles of seacoast, beautiful mountains, lakes, rivers, forestland – we truly live in paradise. We have a citizenry with a work ethic that’s unmatched, a generous people with a sense of humor that’s famous.
Why aren’t businesses lining up for a chance to come here? Why aren’t young people moving here from all over for the chance to raise their families here? Why are we sending people to Washington who believe in the very policies which, I submit, have been so harmful to our state?
I plan to campaign on the issues most crucial to the citizens of the 2nd district. Foremost of these issues are:
o Reversing the horrific decline of our economy
o Proactive search for jobs
o Protecting our citizens from terror
o Lowering federal income taxes
I am interested in representing the people of the 2nd district. While I seek the support of all who share my beliefs, I will be in nobody’s back pocket and I will not have to make phone calls to tell me how to vote on legislation. I will take my orders from the people of the 2nd district. I want to stress that I’m not running because I think I have all the answers. I’m running because I think the people have all the answers, and no one’s listening to them.
We are all the sum total of our life experiences. I am an American. The first member of the Stone family touched American soil in 1657. My Irish ancestors arrived in Lewiston about 100 years before I was born. They dug the canals and built the mills which contributed to our once vibrant economy. My Franco ancestors are from the St. John Valley and one of them actually founded the town of Van Buren. My great grandfather Parent, a French Canadian, was banished from the St. John Valley for, believe it or not, marrying an Acadian, my great grandmother Thibodeau.
I will bring a deep family work ethic to the job of Congressman. I was the first in my bloodline to attend and graduate from college. We are a family of mill workers. I worked in the Bates Mill for four years to get through the University of Maine at Orono. My Grandfather Stone worked as a loom fixer in the mills for over 40 years. My dad was a telephone man and my mother was a hot lunch cook. I worked in a mill myself, removing 100 pound bolts of cloth from 99 chattering looms in 98% humidity and 100 degree heat. Anyone who has ever worked in a textile mill in the summer will know what I am talking about.
I worked hard for the $1.35 per hour the job paid, and I decided that I wanted a different career than the mill. I earned a degree in Economics from the place my grandfather called “State U” and, starting with about 40 bucks in my pocket, worked my way up through the ranks and had a nice banking career of over 30 years. I had the pleasure of working with community members and small business people from all over the 2nd district and I remain convinced that these are some of the finest people in the world.
The voters will find me to be an unyielding patriot. My ancestors fought in the American Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I and World War II. I am named after Staff Sergeant Robert Stone, my uncle who was killed on the French-German border in late 1944. If not for a severe leg injury suffered after I was accepted to and enlisted in Navy flight school, I very possibly would have spent my life on an aircraft carrier rather than keeping track of other people’s money! I fully support President Bush’s prosecution of the War on Terror and the only explanation I can think of for the Democrat’s softness and lack of support in protecting America from terror, is an attempt to gain political advantage.
Of course, no life experience is more important than family. My wife, Susan, married me almost 30 years ago and we raised three wonderful children, Marni, Haley and Peter. Sue and I are proud of our kids and how they’ve turned out. Also in our family now are J.P., Marni’s husband, and Emma and Olivia, our grand daughters. We wish the kids were living closer to us, but they have left Maine for better opportunities out of state. That hurts, and, as parents and grand parents, we share the pain of separation with many other parents and grandparents all across the 2nd district. There isn’t a more vivid example of how government policies affect each of us in very personal ways. I believe that, together, we can reverse this damage, but not with the same old tired “magic tricks” performed by the same old “magicians.
I look forward to working with all of you in an effort to bring a measure of good, old fashioned, Maine common sense to Washington.
To my freeper friends, I need all the help you can provide. We are the underdog outsiders, but we will win this thing.
My opponent is Mike Michaud, D-ME.
Where do we send the contributions?
The 2CD is the largest east of the Mississippi and mostly woods, lakes and granite.
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