Maine GOP Hot Mess

Olympia isn't gone a hot minute and the GOP is vying for her seat like maple syrup at a pancake breakfast. Time to tap those trees folks, let's take a look at the players. Bruce Poliquin ; Rick Bennett ; Bill Schneider ; Charlie Summers ; Deborah Plowman ; Scott D'Ambroise 

Lto R : Bruce Peliquin; Rick Bennett; Bill Schneider; Charlie Summers

We'll start with Bruce "tree Growth" Poliquin.  Mr. Poliquin has run for office in Maine before, most recently he vied for the republican nomination for governor.  As we all know he did not get that nomination as it went to Supreme GOP Ruler LePage.  However, LePage appointed Poliquin to be the Treasurer of the State.  

Treasurer? This is ironic that he is being charged to manage billions of dollar$, while he is avoiding paying full taxes on a ten acre piece of property he owns in Georgetown.  By claiming his land was in "tree growth" he was paying $30 a year in property taxes, on a parcel of land that the average bub would be paying $30,000 a year on.  He has since removed his property from being in tree growth, to "open space".  This raised some serious ethical violations from the House and Senate Democrats.  When claiming tree growth on property you must show a plan to harvest some trees. It is reported that no such plan existed for Mr. Poliquin's property, which sounds pretty shady to us, not tree shady, but creep shady.

Also on a side note this is man that enjoys hearing himself speak.  After witnessing him in person at a town hall meeting, no other state officials could get a word in edgewise with him speaking.  Even when a question did not involve him, he found a way to inject himself into the answer. Fine, he is worse than Biden.

Next up, Charlie Summers who is the current Secretary of State in the LePage administration.  He served as State Director to United States Senator Olympia J. Snowe (1995 to 2004). He has served in the military in the Navy Reserves.  He has been deployed in Iraq and in Afghanistan.  

During this past election period Summers was in the center of the "voter fraud" allegations  by GOP chairman Charlie Webster.  The claim was that college students living in other states had voted in the Maine election in violation of the law, thus committing fraud. After the investigation was conducted, Secretary Summers found zero fraud.  He sent a letter to each student involved to inform them the investigation was complete, but did not inform them of their vindication.  He instead informed them they were in violation of not have Maine ID's and vehicle registration.  Instead of including forms that could allow these students to register their vehicle in Maine, he sent them unenrollment forms for voting.  This to us says it is easier for them to unregister to vote, then to register their vehicle.  This was a ploy of voter suppression that was soundly rejected by the state in last Novembers election.

In the bullpen we have William Schneider, who is the current Attorney General for Maine.  He has managed to stay above the fray of the LePage administration.  He refused to sign a letter by state Attorney Generals claiming that the birth control mandate was unconstitutional.  He did however sign on with the AG's that claimed "Obamacare" was unconstitutional, so 1:1 odds there.

Scott D'Amboise is running as a Republican, however he is a Tea Party Patriot.  The quotes on his campaign page say all we need to see, have a gander at the lead to his about me section: "Family Man, Patriot, and Small Business Owner". Oh another gem smack in the middle of his homepage: "Freedom is the most important of human possessions, and I think we may be in danger of losing ours.  If elected I shall do everything in my power to restore and protect freedom, for the people of Maine and for our great nation." This does not sound like a man who is going to be moderate and willing to work on both sides of the aisle in Washington.  This sounds like typical rhetoric from the far right Tea Part Zealot.  D'Amboise has been the candidate that has been in this race the longest, willing to force a primary against Senator Snowe had she stayed in the 2012 race. Before Olympia announced her retirement D'Amboise was the last Republican challenger.

For the X chromosome Debra Plowman is currently serving her fourth term in the Maine senate.  She is a business woman from Hamden, who along with her family run PDQ doors, a garage door company.  Here is a list of some of the legislation she has sponsored or co-sponsored . There is some great stuff in there where she sponsored a bill to collect child support.  This bill became a national model. 

Lastly, Senator Richard A. Bennett (R-Norway) alternated with Senator Michael Michaud as President during the 120th Maine Senate, under the State Senate's unique power sharing arrangement resulting from a first-ever partisan tie. Currently, Bennett serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporate Library, LLC, a Maine-based independent research firm which focuses on corporate governance and director/executive compensation. He is an honors graduate of Harvard University(1986).

That is a break down of the current crop of republicans vying for Senator Snowe's seat. Currently Charlie Summer's has an 8 point lead on his closest challenger, Scott D'Amboise. The Primary will be held on June 12th.