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DAVIDOFF

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PARRY

The race for House district 10, which covers Arundel, Dayton and part of Lyman, pits Democratic challenger Amy Davidoff against Republican incumbent Wayne Parry.

Ӣ Davidoff, 57, lives in Arundel, and has a partner of 32 years. She is a professor at the University of New England College of Osteo-pathic Medicine. Davidoff has no previous political experience, but describes herself as a lifelong political junkie.

To address the issue of jobs, Davidoff said it will be important to bridge the skills gap by educating the workforce for the next generation of jobs. She also said it is important to cultivate support for the manufacturing industry, and to work on overall sustainability in the areas of fishing and farming.

On taxes, she takes issue with the model of funding schools by means of local property taxes.

“That’s just wrong,” said Davidoff. “It’s not fair for school systems to rely primarily on property taxes, because lower-income communities are not as well resourced. There just has to be a better way to fund it.”

As a scientist, she said it’s important that legislators make decisions based on available data, so that bills are rooted in fact, not ideology.

“We need a sensible government,” she said. “If someone has a really good idea, let’s go with it.”

Ӣ Parry, 51, lives in Arundel, is married and has no children. He is a lobsterman and is currently serving his second term in the house.

To tackle the jobs issue, Parry said it’s important to create a friendly business climate.

“The point is not to invest, but to create conditions where our businesses can invest,” said Parry. “We need to do more on that front.”

Parry said he holds that property taxes are being eaten up by school budgets, and that some town budgets across the state have been scaled back to offset increases in educational expenditures. Parry said his goal would be to “save money on the school end” to keep property taxes as low as possible.

“Most people don’t mind if they absolutely see where their money’s going,” he said.

As far as the sales tax goes, “We should be taxing a few more things that we don’t, and not taxing a few things that we do,” he said.

A statewide issue that’s of particular importance to Parry is the bear referendum. He advocates a “no” vote, claiming that one person he knows relies on the bear hunt for as much as 40 percent of his income.

“To me, this is the biggest issue in Maine out of all of them,” said Parry. “This will absolutely destroy what’s left of northern Maine.”

More generally, he said that outside groups are trying to change Maine, and feels that only individuals or entities from inside the state should be allowed to place issues on the referendum.

— Staff Writer Jeff Lagasse can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 319 or [email protected].