Dear Editor:

Chuck Cunningham’s partisan rubber stamp endorsement of Rep. Stephanie Hawke would have us believe that her record is one of working for the community. Her voting record indicates otherwise.

Rep. Hawke has consistently supported and sponsored legislation aimed at undermining working families. She has opposed expanding Medicaid (LD 633) for underpaid workers leaving them without affordable health insurance – a life or death vote affecting thousands of hard working Mainers.

She has fought against any effort to increase the minimum wage (LD 674). And her attacks on workers ability to bargain collectively are nothing less than mean spirited (LD 1501, 404, 489 & 1319).

She supported LD 1384 seriously compromising worker rights and privacy in employer drug screening.

She has also supported LD 1097 imposing harsh and unenforceable penalties on poor families who rely on TANF.

She was a sponsor of LD 1146; a tax loophole that would have directly benefited her at the expense of other taxpayers.

She also supported LD 1577 which would have resulted in placing more mentally ill people in prison instead of hospitals where they belong.

In supporting LD 1652 she sought to override municipal home rule by cutting off funding for municipalities who prohibit their police from checking a person’s immigration status.

Then there is the sorrowful debacle of LD 1649 that would have spurred the development of solar power in the state.

And let us not forget that she ignored my call, email and invitation to meet with her at the capital.

Rep. Hawke does not reflect the values of even moderate Republicans and ignores the needs of her constituents. 

Fred W. Nehring

Boothbay