Perkins and Brown seek House District 31 seat

On Tuesday, Nov. 5 residents who are not voting absentee will be heading to the polls — please check with the town offices for specific times and locations — to vote in the Presidential and Maine U.S. Senate elections and make a choice for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District representative. Those living in portions of southern and eastern Piscataquis County will be voting on their representative to Maine House District 31, with incumbent Chad Perkins, R-Dover-Foxcroft running against Democratic candidate Joseph Brown of Milo.

HOUSE DISTRICT 31

Representing Atkinson Township, Brownville, Dover-Foxcroft, Lake View Plantation, Medford, Milo, Orneville, and Southeast Piscataquis

Chad Perkins

(R-Dover-Foxcroft)

Incumbent

Age: 52.

Occupation: IT security consultant.

Education and/or military: Army veteran.

Family: Wife Dolly Perkins – 11 children, expecting seventh grandchild.

Political experience: Finishing first term in State House

Community/volunteer experience: Vice chair, Katahdin Valley Health Center; director, Maine Highlands Federal Credit Union; former chair, Three Rivers Ambulance Service; former vice chair, municipal budget committee; former director, Brownville Free Public Library; former school board member; member/past commander, American Legion; life member, American Radio Relay League; member, Maine Farm Bureau; life member, Project Appleseed; member, Big Pine Gun Club; life member, National Rifle Association; member, Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine; life member, Gun Owners of Maine; life member, Gun Owners of America; life member, Second Amendment Foundation; life member, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association; former member, Maine Mounted Search and Rescue.

Why are you running for office? I am running to protect constitutional rights and reduce government overreach. If the state legislature can achieve these two objectives, then all the people of my district, and Maine, will be better off in every way.While serving in the State House, I was able to get more sponsored bills passed than almost any member of the minority party. These included bills to increase First Amendment Rights under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act, to protect Fifth and Eighth Amendment rights by allowing Maine people to keep more of their money when facing municipal foreclosures and to reduce needless costs and bureaucracy when dealing with government agencies. We need to keep government, at all levels, out of our lives as much as possible. You should have the ability to choose what type of vehicle to drive, how to heat your home and how to educate your children.

What is the most concerning issue facing the region at this time? The three top priorities are energy, spending and constitutional rights.
We are losing jobs in this district right now because of energy costs. We need to stop the foolish solar subsidies that are forcing the closure of  businesses and costing rate payers an additional $230 million dollars a year to cover stranded costs. People are already suffering enough from inflation caused by poor federal monetary policy, they cannot afford the additional hit to subsidize something that offers us minimal benefit. Reducing energy costs has to be one of our top priorities as it affects everything in our economy. In the last session I had one of the two bills that would have ended Net Energy billing that was killed by the majority. We need to prioritize Maine jobs and Maine families over out of state solar companies.

The legislature needs to get a grip on the budget which is facing almost a billion dollar shortfall and has grown by about 30 percent in just the last five years. As we have a mandated balanced budget, we need to reduce state spending and the growth of the state government so the costs of that growth are not passed on to the taxpayers. Almost every government agency grew in this last legislative session, hence their budgets grew, despite the fact that almost none of those agencies were able to fill all their staffing needs. This is a ridiculous, wasteful and costly practice.

Most importantly, we need to protect all of our constitutionally protected rights as defined in the Bill of Rights and the State Constitution which are under constant assault. This was never more clear than the constant assault on Second Amendment rights that I saw while serving on the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee and the passage of bills that infringed on those rights, going so far as to move the bills to other committees and re-introducing them after being defeated in my committee. We also need to stop the push for decriminalizing criminal acts and the want to put offender rights above the rights of victims of crime.

Joseph Brown

(D-Milo)

Age: 36.

Occupation: Owner operator of J.Brown & Son’s trucking LLC.

Education and/or military: High school graduate Penquis Valley

Family: My wife Haley, sons Grayson Oliver and Beecher Joseph, and one daughter Winona Louise.

Political experience: None.

Community/volunteer experience: Knights of Columbus Council 3172, Three Rivers Kiwanis.

Why are you running for office? To represent the people of our district as best as I can as a lifelong member of the area.

What is the most concerning issue facing the region at this time The opioid crisis has decimated this district and the failing woods market are my two biggest concerns.