York Town News
York to send three new legislators to Augusta next month
By Virginia L. Woodwell
YORK - The three recent local winners of seats in the state legislature will be newcomers to that scene when they are sworn in on Dec.6.
Peter Bowman
Bowman said he sees himself and fellow local Democrat Dawn Hill as, in part, beneficiaries of the wave of support expressed for Democrats nationally, a result, largely, of anti-war feelings and backlash against the current administration, coupled with a desire to "start anew, start afresh."
At the same time, however, he said, "While that certainly didn't hurt our cause, it wasn't the largest factor. Dawn and I worked very hard, and we took certain positions that resonated with the voters."
Campaigning, Bowman said, he found "exhausting but exhilarating." He estimated that, between May and early November, working every day that it didn't rain, he knocked on the doors of between 3,500 and 4,000 homes and got to talk to between 1,500 and 1,800 voters. Among them all, he said, fewer than five were not welcoming and almost all were warmly appreciative of the effort he was making.
The experience was also instructive.
"I talked to people down on their luck, up on their luck, and people in between," he said. Most, when invited to, didn't bring up issues for him to address, but those who did were concerned with "taxes and spending," and that was especially true for seniors on fixed income, and for people concerned with hikes in property taxes.
In Augusta, Bowman looks forward to focusing on education, and on the economy and fiscal reform.
"Schools, education and training, are the lifeblood of Maine's economy," he said, and, properly applied, can translate into reduced taxes and spending. In that regard, Bowman recommends serious consideration of 24 recommendations, some quite controversial, recently advanced by a state Board of Education-chartered Select Panel Report on Revisioning Education in Maine.
Bowman also recommends that attention be paid to a Brookings Institute report called "Charting Maine's Future: An Action Plan for Promoting Sustainable Prosperity and Quality Places." A long-term comprehensive plan for economic and fiscal reform available in summary form on the Internet at www.growsmartmaine.org, it says, in essence, Bowman reported, "Maine, you've got a rosy future ahead of you - but only if you act now. … I will feel wonderfully successful," Bowman said, "if, at the end of two years, I can see a plan in place for reforming and strengthening Maine's educational system, and the same for its economy and fiscal house."
Bowman was heartened, he said, by his campaigning experience, and reports that he is speaking from "feet-on-the-ground" personal experience when he maintains, "There is vitality and goodness in America these days."
Windol Weaver
Weaver, who also campaigned door-to-door, said that he was surprised at "how many streets there are in York."
He was also surprised, he said, at the strength of the local Democratic vote. National issues, he said, did have an effect he called "huge" on election outcomes, both locally and across the country, with "some good people," he said, being turned out of office as a result.
In thanking the voters for their support, he also said, "You can never predict the York voters. They're independent thinkers and study the issues. You can't outguess them."
In Augusta, he said, the Democratic majority that's been in place for 32 years will now constitute what he termed almost a super-majority, holding 90 out of 151 seats.
In his campaigning, he said, he learned that concerns were "all about taxes and health care and jobs." In Augusta, he said, he hopes the majority party realizes that the vote on TABOR, at 51.12 percent, was close, and especially so in York.
"We've got to do something," he stressed.
At the same time, he said that he and fellow newly-elected representative Hill had already conferred amicably, and "she and I see no problem getting things done for York. We'll negotiate."
Weaver said that his experience of nine years on York's Budget Committee and three years on the county's probably best qualifies him for service on an appropriations committee in Augusta, but such slots, he said, are usually reserved for senior members. He would welcome an assignment, he said, to a committee on legal and veterans' affairs.
He has also, he said, already begun research on ways to bring property tax relief to York residents aged 65 or older who have lived in town for 20 years or more.
Dawn Hill
"Campaigning," Hill said, "took far more energy than I expected, but yielded far more rewards than I expected."
She said that she and Bowman agreed before the election that each felt that they had already won, so enriching was the process itself.
Among the lessons learned: "How much people want to be listened to."
Hill said that she was also very impressed and touched by "how many people came out to be part of the volunteer effort. … I hadn't anticipated such good will and support."
The margin by which she won - 63 percent in each of the four towns she'll be representing - also came as a shock to her, she said.
Now, she reported, to fulfill campaign promises to play what she called a transparent role, she said that she was organizing her computer base into groups of people - firemen, town managers, selectmen, conservations commissions, for example - so as to be able to stay easily in touch with constituents through any legislative processes. For the same reason, she's enlarging her website, to permit postings about legislation and easy e-mail exchanges.
In consideration of committee service, she said that she's been talking to those who've already served on certain committees, "to get the flavor of what actually goes on," and through that process has been narrowing her preferences. Those are currently for the judiciary committee, or natural resources, or economic and business development, but she recognizes, she said, that the choice is ultimately out of her control.
The choices voters made in this election, she said, represented a desire for change at the national level, and a heartening recognition on the part of the public that individual votes do count.
"I'm so thankful for having been elected," she said. "I'm going to Augusta feeling that a lot of people want me to be there, and I feel good about that."
