Who Won’t Raise Your Taxes
Cianchette and Michael have signed a Taxpayer Protection Pledge which says, if elected, they will oppose and veto all efforts to increase taxes. (The Pledge is a project of Americans for Tax Reform in Washington D.C. and works cooperatively in that effort with Maine Tax Watch which I chair.)
Remember when you mark your ballot on November 5th that John Baldacci and Jonathan Carter wont sign the pledge.
Thirteen candidates for state senate have pledged they will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes. Fifty-three candidates for house seats have signed the same pledge. Here they are. Incumbents are in italics. Their districts are in parenthesis.
| Senate Candidates | House of Representatives Candidates |
| Richard Davis Hart (5) | Peter Fernald (3) |
| William Pinkham (5) | Thomas Murphy (8) |
| Edward Youngblood (6) | David Bowles (9) |
| Paul Davis (8) | Michael Lewis (10) |
| Betty Lou Mitchell (10) | Robert Brandenstein (14) |
| Christine Savage (12) | Harold Clough (22) |
| Barry Sturk (14) |
Phineas Sprague (25) |
| Leslie Fossel (16) | Edward Symbol (28) |
| Robert Stone (21) | Anthony Bessey (29) |
| Richard Bennett (25) | John McDonough (32) |
| Karl Turner (26) | Ann Yates (33) |
| Carolyn Gilman (29) | Thomas B. Wheatley (37) |
| Dorothy Lafortune (32) | Gerald Davis (40) |
| Philip Cressey, Jr. (47) | |
| Ronald Dumont (49) |
|
| John F. Albis (55) |
|
| Karl F. Tarbox (57) | |
| Kenneth Honey (58) |
|
| David Trahan (59) |
|
| Stephen Bowen (63) |
|
| Theodore Heidrich (64) | |
| Lois Snowe-Mello (71) |
|
| Thomas F. Shields (72) |
|
| Jesse Cranda ll (76) | |
| William L. Reid III (76) | |
| Stan Moody (80) | |
| Robert Berube (84) | |
| Michael Vaughan (85) | |
| Claudette Caron (88) | |
| Gregory Chapman (91) |
|
| Elton Powers (98) | |
| Gilman Pelletier (99) | |
| Virginia Sturies (100) |
|
| Jeff Kaelin (107) | |
| Donald Berry, Sr. (109) | |
| Earl Richardson (111) | |
| James Annis (112) |
|
| Brian Duprey (114) | |
| Jerry Evans (117) | |
| James LaBrecque (118) |
|
| Tina Stimpson (119) | |
| Russell Treadwell (124) |
|
| James H. Tobin (126) | |
| Robert Crosthwaite (127) |
|
| Eugene Churchill (128) |
|
| Christopher Cambron (133) |
|
| Anita Peavey Haskell (137) |
|
| Stu Kallgren (140) | |
| Henry L. Joy (141) | |
| David Deschesne (145) | |
| Theodore L. St. Pierre (146) |
|
| Peter Edgecomb (149) |
|
| Rudolph St. Peter (150) |
If there is a candidate here from your Senate and/ or House district, vote for him or her. The Pledge is a litmus test of a candidates resolve to be fiscally responsible. If you dont see a candidates name from your district, ask why they havent signed. All House and Senate candidates received the pledges in the mail over six weeks ago. Put some teeth in the Pledge by insisting that candidates si gn the Taxpayer Protection Pledge in order to earn your vote. By doing this you may do more to turn the Maine Legislature around than anything else you could do as an individual. Your direct action in quizzing candidates now will help to protect you and your family from tax increases in the next session.
