The towns of Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Edgecomb , Southport Island and Westport Island caucused at the American Legion Hall in Boothbay on Saturday, March 5.

It was a special event for Lincoln County Republicans as gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage caucused with the town of Edgecomb. It was a pleasure having our former governor participating in one of our most fundamental political events as town committees are formed, voting members of the Lincoln County Committee are chosen, and delegates are selected to represent the towns in the State Convention.

Republicans chosen from towns across the state will be voting on the Maine Republican Platform at the State Convention in Augusta next month. During the convention they will be selecting national representatives for the Republican National Convention later this year.

Each of the candidates spoke. Common themes from all the candidates were the impact of increasing prices on food, electricity, heating oil, and gasoline and the impact that will have on working families. Another issue common to all candidates was education. All believed that parents should be allowed a voice in the education of their children, should be informed of what is being taught, and should be part of the decision process. Some felt there is a need for a “Parents Bill of Rights.” All wanted more opportunities for school choice so parents could choose to send their children to a better performing school. All agreed that students should have an opportunity to learn trade skills such as mechanics, carpentry, and electrical trades.

LePage shared how he used to be in competition with New Hampshire on who had the lowest unemployment with the lead changing back and forth. Now Maine is seriously behind New Hampshire and it does not have to be that way. He also noted a grim statistic. According to DHHS a record number of children died while under their care last year. Fixing DHHS would be a top priority in his administration. LePage also noted that 55,000 healthy, unemployed people under the age of 29 are on Medicaid at a time our businesses can’t find workers. He believes that the Medicaid work requirement should be reinstated. He is concerned about the impact that federal rules to “save the whales” and large offshore wind installations will have on our fishing industries. He also noted that our high electrical costs hurt all industries especially our logging, and pulp and paper industries.

Trish Warren shared many of the concerns of the failures of our schools both in education and parental involvement and a concern for our struggling small businesses. She feels that well thought out solutions could have bipartisan support.

Abden Simmons felt he could bring his knowledge of the fishing industry and small businesses to Augusta to offer solutions to help save our fishing industries and small businesses. All our state candidates agreed to work together to bring changes in Augusta that would benefit working Mainers.

Ed Thelander, candidate for federal Congressional District 1, was not able to attend as he was at another event but sent a spokesman. Ed feels that bad decisions made in Washington during the Afghanistan withdrawal signaled a weakness in our government and our military that contributed to the present war in Ukraine. He also feels that the delay in implementation of sanctions signaled Russia that the U.S. was weak and that weakness could be exploited. He also believes we should not be importing Russian oil but rather should return to energy independence. This could help the U.S. reduce our energy costs and deprive Russia of that revenue stream.

Any Republican that wishes to attend the state convention can contact their town committee. Information is available at lincolncountyrepublicans.org.