Collins has the lobster, BIW and fishing industry here.
You need skilled labor..in this state. You need the youth to want to remain--and timber and fishing is not going to keep them here.
Otten is well known in all parts of Maine in regard to the skiing industry, energy, building a successful baseball team, contacts in the business world is a strong point, etc...being mayor of Waterville--a real destination-lol. Mills (Waterville) failed in their redevelopment as had to be rentals before ownership-talked with the developers--the demise was imminent. Poor city planning like in Augusta. Lost even the famous Empire Grill over in Skow..no customers in a depressed part of Maine. I ride through--it's dead! Yard sales are the source of income or working at the mini-mart. Mainers deserve more.
LePage even added he never had been bankrupt as others had been..to his ongoing campaign slogan. He has no plan, just like Obama had no plan.
Government is big business in Maine. Too big. But it pays well to work for Big Government, DOT and not government related so they say but Natural Resources as well has the same government perks. The film industry is a failure unless you just want to call it like most arts "starving"..as no perks to draw film making into this state anymore. Once Newman passed away no one came for he had a love of Maine. Not to blame the people in the film dept of Maine as they have no incentives to give, hands are tied. Come to Maine and pay the highest taxes in the country, highest energy rates in the nation..but sure is pretty to visit. Just you don't live here unless you have to! or have money to do so.
Need to rehaul the system on that we can agree.
I think that with LePage we’d get a Chris Christie style government. Cutting taxes, cutting spending, taking on the unions. Nothing particularly exciting.
That’s enough of a plan to me. If LePage’s passion lies with being responsible and being tough, making the right cuts and not worrying what the Dems think and what the newspapers think, I think he’ll be successful.
It seems that D’s often have a vision which is partially implemented and then scrapped when the next administration comes in.
The Ds seem to love this wind power, which seems like epic fail to me. We’re tearing out hydro, which is pretty cheap, and replacing it with wind, which is expensive, unreliable, and tends to make people who live near the windmills ill.
I’d like to see something cool come from this “three ring binder” project. I’d like the tidal power projects out in Washington Couny not be overregulated.
But our primary problem in Maine is government is too big. And LePage’s big thing is a focus on that.