Jacob C. Johnston

Unenrolled

Office Sought: Representative – District 14
Age: 35
Occupation: Business owner
Education: BA Communcation
Family: Not submitted
Hometown: Saco

Political experience

I graduated from the University of Southern Maine in 2008. Soon after, as I started my search for employment, the economy collapsed in the great recession. I consider myself a part of the lost graduates – a group of college graduates that entered into a workforce that had no need for them. I have worked many hourly paid positions. In 2014, I started my own business; through my experiences I understand the struggles of both a employee and business owner.

Why are you running for office?

I am running for office because I have a belief that we are all in this together as citizens of Maine, that Saco is changing, and that we must shape this change, or we will be shaped by it. I believe in the common good. Saco must maintain and continue to grow as a place where community continues to exist. Saco faces many challenges. Property taxes are high and have begun to push out many life-long residents. College debt has prevented many young professionals in our community from qualifying for home loans and has pushed them into renting, with this increase in demand causing rents in Saco to almost double in the last five years. Technical and trade jobs are abundant in the Southern Maine area, yet our workforce lacks easy access to training for these skills that are needed in this new economy. To layout my four most pressing issues: increasing revenue sharing to get more money into our schools and out of Augusta, changing the state of Maine property tax assessment formula policies to keep life-long residents in Saco from being pushed out and preventing gentrification, increasing technical and skilled-based training and certification for all ages of the workforce, and increasing the electorate through automatic voter registration. Finally, the two party system is broken. I am running as an Independent because we need people in the State House that are not beholden to political parties and their special interest groups, but instead to local communities.

• Income Tax: Gov. LePage would like to lower Maine’s income tax rate and eventually eliminate it, by increasing the state’s sales tax and expanding it across a broader range of goods and services. Do you support this proposal?
  • Other

    Lower taxes are always good for individuals and the economy. The less money in Augusta, the more money in people’s pockets, the more the economy will grow. But before we think about lowering any taxes, or eliminating them, we must look at the fact that Augusta is not fulfilling its current financial responsibilities. The voters of Maine voted for Augusta to have revenue sharing with local municipalities to pay over 50% of education costs. To date, this is not being accomplished, leading to property tax increases in Saco and other local communities to offset their lack of funding. Once the State House fulfills this requirement, then we can talk about changing or eliminating taxes.

• Background Checks: Do you support background checks for privately sold firearms in Maine?
  • Other

    I am a strong support of the second amendment. I believe the Constitution gives people the right to bear arms. With that said, I do believe we have a responsibility to prevent the mentally ill and those that are known terrorists (domestic or foreign) from accessing firearms that are sold at trade shows or other venues. The fact that the ballot initiative is being funded by out of state billionaires gives me pause on supporting it. I have yet to decide how I am going to vote on this issue.

• Minimum Wage: In light of the ballot question facing voters this fall, do you support raising the state’s minimum wage from $7.50 to $12 an hour by 2020?
  • Yes

    The economy of Saco and southern Maine makes it impossible for anyone to get by without government assistance working at the current $7.50 minimum wage. People who work should be able to survive. This is not a perfect ballot initiative, however I believe the State House can solve the problems with the initiative before it is enacted.

• Marijuana: Do you support legalization of marijuana for recreational use?
  • Yes

    Legalization of marijuana is a simple question with many different complicated answers. Many see the marijuana to be similar to cigarettes where people will smoke in public areas. Others see it as a mood altering substance that should be regulated similar to alcohol. I believe marijuana should be able to be used in the privacy of one’s residence. No one should be spending any time in jail for its possession. But the facts are, driving under the influence of marijuana is dangerous. Smoking any substance is not good for your health. Maine is a DIY state, but large scale commercial grow buildings use large amounts of pesticides and other products that may be harmful to the environment and are large energy consumers. We must not give young adults the impression that marijuana is consequence free, because it’s not. People do grow dependencies and it is dangerous to operate vehicles.

• Addiction/Overdoses: Do you believe the state is doing enough in response to the rise in heroin/opiate addiction and overdoses? If not, what else should be done?
  • No, we must first accept that the heroin epidemic is not someone else’s problem, but all of ours. We must see it as if these addicts were our mother, father, sibling or child, because they are to someone. The opiate epidemic initially started with prescription drugs being legally prescribed pain killers through the 2000s. In 2009, when they started making it harder and paid more attention to prescription drug abuse, we began to see an increase in pharmacy robberies out of desperation. Once the cost of these black market prescription pain killers became too expensive, like all supply and demand markets, they turned to a cheaper drug. We now have a generation of people in our communities that will be fighting their addiction for the rest of their lives. We must give them all the support that they need. We must make anti-overdose to sell drugs legal without a prescription. We must also handle this as a law enforcement issue giving the State Police and other law enforcement agencies the resources they need to eliminate the supply from the State. This isn’t a short term issue.

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