CUMBERLAND — I publicly supported Democrat Libby Mitchell for governor in 2010. I served on some part of her campaign Cabinet and as one of her energy advisers.

The more time I spent on the campaign, the less enthusiastic I became. I would come home from a meeting and tell my wife that I had a bad feeling about the whole thing. She would always tell me that I had agreed to support Mitchell publicly and that I was in till the end.

She would follow that with a conversation stopper: “What would your father do?” My father would be a man of his word and be in till the end. As my wife reminded me, “You can vote for whoever you want, but you have to continue to back Libby.”

She was right, and that is what I did: I supported Libby, and I voted for independent Eliot Cutler.

Following that election, I had breakfast with Eliot Cutler a few times, lunch a few times and dinner once with him, his wife, Melanie, and my wife.

I like Eliot Cutler. He is very smart, witty and irreverent, and he has a lot of guts. I like all of this.

He is the guy on the soccer team who has all of the foot skills, can run as fast as the wind and often scores an impossible goal in practice. But in the game, he is too busy trying to score to remember that there are nine other guys who can help. He is the guy who wants to skip practice and show up for the game. Well, for the last four years, he has been skipping the practices.

I have spent a fair amount of time in Augusta. For three years, I chaired the Efficiency Maine Trust board and the RGGI Trust. I was often in front of the Legislature. Through the years I have testified in favor of higher fuel economy standards, greater funding for energy efficiency and a variety of important environmental causes.

Where was Cutler? Why wasn’t he taking the lead on any of these issues? I am just a car dealer – I am not running for anything. I care about Maine and feel that if I am fortunate enough to live here and make a very good living, and am able to help make Maine a better place, then I should.

This description also applies to Eliot Cutler, but I am afraid that he was so busy running for governor that he forgot to do the hard work. Roll up your sleeves, put your head down and do some good.

I believe that Mainers recognize authentic hard work when they see it. I am sure that Cutler is working really hard, but it is late. Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud has been doing the hard work for decades.

He may not be able to score a goal from the opposite end of the field, but he can move the ball, pass it to the right person and lead the team to win the game. He understands that politics is not a one-man show, it is not something you can cram for and it is not a game where the person with the quickest wit wins.

I am looking for someone who understands Maine and who understands Washington, because, like it or not, we have to work with our federal government.

Maine needs someone who will take the time to listen to all points of view, who will not refuse to meet with the leaders in the Legislature, and who will not fill his Cabinet with lobbyists who have spent their lives lobbying against the very causes they are now supposed to protect.

Gov. LePage is killing us. His policies have hurt our environment; his public statements are an embarrassment; his administration’s management of the Department of Health and Human Services is abysmal, and his shifting of expenses from Augusta to the cities and towns around Maine was irresponsible. I got a tax cut under Gov. LePage, and everyone else in my town got a property tax increase. His policies are unfair.

Mike Michaud will work with the people of Maine to address our very real issues, from energy to education. He will make people want to work with him. He will be the coach who gets his team to do the hard work every day, not just when it is time to run for office.

— Special to the Press Herald