A new low
Political advertising has hit yet another new low with recent Republican attack ads. In one, Adrienne Bennett mocks her opponent in the primary by calling him a clown while he dances around foolishly in his underwear, which apparently is a clip from an acting job. No vision offered for the future of our state, country and world, and no solutions to our very serious problems. Just more name calling in our era of the cult of personality.
A different, outside ad supports Susan Collins and targets Sara Gideon. It implies Gideon ignored a Democratic lawmaker being accused of sexual misconduct with his students in August 2018. What the ad does not tell you is that directly after the accusations came out in a Portland publication, Gideon called for his resignation, and he resigned approximately two weeks later.
Gideon has been a strong supporter in the Legislature of children, victims of sexual abuse and family violence. She fought Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of programs that would benefit child victims and initiated training for all staff on sexual harassment, in addition to other legislation to aid women and families.
Collins has made the grievous error of aligning herself with our seriously flawed federal leadership. She has refused again and again to speak out more strongly and protect Mainers and the whole planet from this president’s narcissism and the consequential chaos it has created and continues to create.
We need to vote Collins out and we need to keep pressure on the Democrats to do a much better job.
Lisa Kushner
Belfast
Vote for Chip Curry
I am pleased to announce that I voted for Chip Curry to represent Waldo County in the Maine Senate in Maine’s primary election. Yes, I already voted! For the first time in my voting history, I requested an absentee ballot from the state’s website. It arrived in a timely manner and I completed voting in the comfort and safety of my own home with a quick drive to the mailbox.
Why did I vote for Curry? Since our daughters are friends, schoolmates and theater-mates, I’ve had several opportunities to connect with him as a parent and resident of Waldo County. He’s a dedicated family man who cherishes his community. Curry’s views on renewable energy, economic development within Waldo County and accountable government checks off all the right boxes for me.
However, it is Curry’s palpable enthusiasm for education that completely won me over. During a conversation regarding his advisory position at the University of Maine at Augusta, he shared creative solutions with me that would allow adult students to manage their education while balancing full-time jobs and families. He values the life-changing experience an education can provide that in turn expands opportunities and solidifies self-worth. I believe, in his own words, he just likes to help people.
Let’s get Curry into the Maine Senate so he can start helping the people of Waldo County build a stronger, sustainable future.
Jennifer A. Lisa
Belfast
Rank Betsy Sweet first
This July, we can choose a smart, forward-thinking candidate to run as the Democratic Senate candidate against Susan Collins in November. Betsy Sweet has worked for years on important issues such as the environment, families and working women. She co-founded the Maine Center for Economic Policy and helped create the first clean elections system in the country, along with the first Family Leave Medical Act. She served as commissioner for women under Govs. Joseph Brennan and John McKernan, and has worked on Maine budgets for years as an advocate for various groups. She is refusing all corporate PAC and “dark” money so free flowing in politics.
She strongly supports health care for all, a Green New Deal and ending Citizens United, which has allowed dark money to flow in politics for too long.
The pandemic and recent cries for racial justice have made clear our country is in desperate need of confident leadership and change. I’ve heard Sweet speak at candidate forums and town halls, and was struck by her frankness, her intelligence and by the ease with which she tackles any subject in a straightforward and informed way. You can get to know her at a forthcoming forum that will be hosted by Maine Public broadcasting.
Please use ranked choice to vote for Betsy Sweet as your first choice in the July 14 primary. Also, you may want to request an absentee ballot from your city clerk or town hall.
Dallas Denery
Bath
Redesigning rural health
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has unmasked the frailty of the U.S. health system, patently including our public health infrastructure. Prior to the pandemic, Maine’s rural health care providers were combatting the effects of rural depopulation on their ability to provide care that hinges on fee for service, the challenges of coordinating care for patients across a fragmented statewide health system, the serious difficulty of recruiting providers to rural communities and the challenges of managing finances in the face of arcane payment models that are barriers to innovation in the provision of health care — and more. These problems have been amplified by the pandemic.
Our rural clinicians and health care administrators need our support for the development of policies and rule changes that can enable them to continue providing (or restoring) essential health services to the communities for which they care deeply — in ways that assure quality and are operationally sustainable. I encourage the Bangor Daily News to “zoom out” from a focus on individual facilities in difficulty and to look at the systemic problems that are driving the health and healthcare challenges faced by rural Mainers.
We have an opportunity, as a state, to engage in health system redesign, with the goal of providing rural Mainers equitable access to, and utilization of, essential health services.
Jeff Brown
Safer Healthcare LLC
Belfast
A new anthem
How many of us have witnessed on TV a football player not standing at attention when our national anthem is presently played. Welcome to our history and a background examination of the author, Francis Scott Key, who was the owner of human beings.
Our nation has a tremendous storehouse of poets and musical artists. Perhaps, these artists could assemble and spearhead such an effort. Together we could rewrite a new anthem that all Americans may celebrate together with respect, joy and happiness.
Unfortunately, we cannot replay Kate Smith’s ” God Bless America” because our new hymn must respect free folks having the authority to be atheist, agnostics, or other.
Robert Fournier
Bangor
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