Dear Editor:

Chris Johnson is running for re-election to the Maine Senate and based on his excellent record and thoughtful work, he once again deserves our continued electoral support.

Senator Johnson has worked hard for constituent needs in a couple of Boothbay area’s special problems. The first is giving support to Boothbay Harbor West Harbor Pond Association’s efforts for dam and siphoning system reconstruction. He studied the Association’s supporting data and wrote an informed letter of support for a grant application to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). When they did not receive the grant, he joined them on short notice to meet with the DEP. More recently he arranged for the Judiciary branch to locate records of an old court case relevant to their ongoing effort.

Chris also worked closely with local members of the Lincoln County Recovery Collaborative steering committee to fully understand the local opioid addiction problem. He was an active listener and advocate for a collaborative solution to address realities shared by committee memebers, including Police Chief Bob Hasch. Chris told me that Bob is a tremendous role model for the kind of a community law enforcement response that is often needed where drug addiction problems are concerned.

As our senator, Chris has been a strong supporter of growing the local foods economy by setting up a local food hub and infrastructure program through legislative support. He authored the popular Farmlands Restoration bill, which has been supported by the Maine Farm Bureau, MOFGA, the Maine Sustainable Agricultural Society, and by farmers and agricultural civil servants as well.

Chris is an educator at heart and he has used his Senate position to involve local people and especially young Mainers in local information forums on many of these issues that face us all.

He works hard for all of us and we need to keep him in the Maine Senate. He supports us and we should support him and his efforts.

Bill Messmer

Southport