Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

Scontras new to political arena

PAUL CARRIER

— Eighth in a series

click image to enlarge

John Ewing/Staff Photographer: Friday, May 9, 2008...Dean Scontras, Republican congressional candidate, meets with voters at a gathering in a Portland home.

Select images available for purchase in the
Maine Today Photo Store

By

Staff Writer

Eliot businessman Dean Scontras, a political newcomer who is seeking the Republican nomination in the 1st Congressional District, doesn't chafe at the suggestion that he's the most conservative candidate in a primary field of two Republicans and six Democrats.

Quite the opposite. Scontras embraces that characterization.

That's not surprising from a candidate who quotes the late President Reagan, whom Scontras admires, as urging Republicans to paint in ''bold colors'' instead of ''pale pastels.''

''Maine inherently, naturally and almost by necessity is a conservative state,'' Scontras told delegates at the Republican State Convention in Augusta this month. ''There are some who are suggesting that the conservative flame in this state is about to flicker out, but I know that's not true.''

Referring to his ''conservative candidacy,'' Scontras vowed to stand firm during that speech. ''I will not compromise,'' he said. ''I will not moderate. And I will not appease on my way to victory in November.''

The man behind such tough talk is a good-natured Kittery native and the grandson of Greek immigrants who, Scontras notes pointedly, came to this country legally.

As the youngest of seven children, he had to hold his own against six older siblings, so Scontras ''doesn't have a thin skin,'' said Sophia Scontras, his mother.

Scontras grew up in a family of athletes and played football, both as a boy and later at the University of Maine. After graduating from the university in 1991, he held a series of sales and management jobs with several high-tech companies from 1992 through 2007.

Proud of his Greek heritage, Scontras says Bruce Springsteen shares space on his iPod with ''The Odyssey,'' the epic poem written by the ancient Greek poet Homer.

''Dean is extremely competitive,'' family-oriented and ''super-passionate about what he believes in,'' said Jay Kane of Franklin, Mass., a friend who worked with Scontras for about seven years in the 1990s.

He has ''kind of an old-school attitude,'' said Kane, who recalls that Scontras once surprised him by giving Kane's wife a copy of William Bennett's ''The Book of Virtues'' as a gift.

'A CITIZEN CANDIDATE'

Scontras has never held elected office, but he sees that as an asset. He describes himself as ''a citizen candidate,'' a political outsider and an alternative to what he calls establishment candidates.

''If the Founding Fathers wanted you to have 35 years of experience (to run for Congress), they would have written that in (the Constitution),'' Scontras said.

Scontras is competing against Charles Summers of Scarborough, who has served in the state Legislature. Summers worked for U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe for a decade and once ran the regional office of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The winner of that race will go on to face one of six Democrats who are vying for their party's nomination to succeed Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Allen of Portland, who is not seeking re-election. Allen is challenging Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who is seeking a third six-year term.

Scontras' outsider status will not carry much weight with voters unless he can convince them that there is an advantage to electing a newcomer, said political scientist Marvin Druker of Lewiston-Auburn College.

So far, Druker said last week, the GOP race has had a lower profile than the Democratic contest, making it hard to assess Scontras and his candidacy.

It remains to be seen if being the new kid on the block will give Scontras the edge he seeks, but some voters describe him as refreshing because he is plainspoken and not a career politician.

''He was very upfront about where he stands,'' Dr. Norma Dreyfus of Westport, a Democrat, said after hearing Scontras speak in Manchester at a candidates' forum sponsored by the Maine Medical Association.

Scontras is ''a fresh face with bold, younger ideas,'' while Summers comes across as a ''very traditional'' candidate, Dr. Maroulla Gleaton of Palermo, an independent, said after hearing both of them speak at the same event.

Scontras is campaigning as a champion of job creation and a foe of big government. In a radio ad, he says he wants to ''lower taxes, reduce regulations on small businesses, cut wasteful spending to fix the economy and return more jobs to Maine.''

He opposes a quick pullout from Iraq, advocates tort reform as one way to lower both medical malpractice costs and the overall cost of health care, and supports the right to bear arms.

In a move that may reflect his high-tech background, Scontras is promoting the electronic storage of medical records, arguing that a switch from paper to computers would cut costs and promote better care by giving providers easier and more complete access to information about their patients.

The normally straight-talking Scontras sometimes slips into jargon while talking up that pet project, referring to things such as ''interoperability'' and the need to ''cross-pollinate data.''

Scontras and Summers share similar views on some issues. Both favor the Bush administration's tax cuts and both would allow Americans to decide whether to set up private Social Security accounts.

DIFFERENCES EMERGE

But some differences have emerged between the two GOP contenders that underscore Scontras' conservatism.

While both candidates are on record as supporting a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage, for example, Summers does not oppose civil unions. Scontras does.

Scontras opposes abortion rights, which Summers supports.

Both campaigns have talked about the importance of securing the nation's borders.

But Summers has endorsed providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are here now, while Scontras has said he opposes granting amnesty to illegal immigrants.

Scontras said Summers is tied to ''the Olympia Snowe element of the party,'' a reference to Maine's moderate senior U.S. senator.

''I try to identify with the Ronald Reagan element of the party,'' Scontras said, describing himself as a high-energy populist who appeals to ''the beer and pretzels folks.''

Despite Scontras' political inexperience, he raised more money than Summers through March 31, the close of the most recent reporting period.

Scontras collected $274,000 compared with Summers' $186,000.

But Summers, who was in Iraq on a military tour of duty until recently, had more cash on hand as of March 31.

Mandatory candidate reports filed with the Ethics Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives show Scontras had more than $954,000 in assets as of July 31, 2007, making him the wealthiest of the eight 1st District candidates.

He has loaned his campaign about $68,000, including about $30,000 this quarter alone, but he said last week that additional loans are not in the cards.

''My wife would throw me out,'' he said.

If history is any measure, Scontras may face an uphill fight on Nov. 4, if he wins the primary on June 10.

Since 1972, Republicans have won only seven of 18 elections for the 1st District seat.

And in the last quarter century alone, only one solidly conservative Republican -- former Rep. James Longley -- has held the job, and he lost it after two years.

Still, Scontras is upbeat, saying he believes he can ''win this the old-fashioned way, with a handshake and a smile.''

He hopes voters will seize on the fact that he is on the outside looking in, and that they'll keep that in mind when evaluating more experienced politicians in the field, such as Summers.

After all, Scontras said of the nation's seeming slide toward recession, ''this is an economy that's been crafted by everybody else in this race.''

Staff Writer Paul Carrier can be contacted at 622-7511 or at:

pcarrier@pressherald.com