BRUNSWICK

In Maine’s first district, incumbent Democrat Chellie Pingree is facing Republican Isaac Misiuk of Gorham and independent Richard Murphy of Sanford. The Times Record interviewed Pingree and Misiuk during the election cycle; we were unable to reach Richard Murphy.

Chellie Pingree (D)

Chellie Pingree is finishing up her third term as Maine’s first district member of Congress. She serves on the Appropriations Committee, and on the subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development and FDA, and the Interior, Environment, and other related issues.

She is proudest of her accomplishments as a member of the Agriculture subcommittee, especially her recent work on the Farm Bill. As a member of the minority, she knows that she hasn’t been able to do everything she would have wanted to do, especially in the agribusiness arena, but said that “ We were able to turn some of the rules to the interests of consumers.”

Economy: Pingree is in favor of the $ 10.10 minimum wage, which has reached some critical mass in the Senate and could, she thinks, pass the House if the bill were just brought to a vote. She is in favor of regulation of the financial services and commodities futures industries, but said that reinstating Glass-Steagall, which she considers vital, is probably unlikely in this political environment. She is in favor of extending unemployment compensation, and believes a new stimulus is needed, which could be paid for by investing at historic low interest rates through a sort of national bond bank.

Pingree said she is predisposed to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade agreement currently being negotiated by 12 member nations. She said the U.S. has learned a lesson from NAFTA, in terms of lost jobs, and no labor or environmental standards. She is most concerned about the endless extensions of patents that have been leaked from the TPP members, but also about GMOs and agriculture policies in not only the TPP, but NAFTA and the WTO. She would like to examine how to get out of agreements that are not good for the U.S., but “no one brings it up” so there is no chance for someone on her committees to discuss it or offer amendments to a bill.

To make taxes more equitable, Pingree said that Ways and Means has done an overhaul of the tax code, which strongly encourages individuals and businesses to bring the money back to the U.S. However, this is not enough, because there is a great deal of complexity in the system. The Buffett rule would be a nice addition, but there is no appetite for it in a Republican dominated House.

Pingree sees no problem with lifting the cap on Social Security to keep Social Security solvent.

“I don’t know why there is a difference between making $ 118,000 and $117,000,” she said. “Everyone should contribute as a percentage of their total income.”

In addition to changes in the tax code, Pingree said inequality should be dealt with through the support network. “We are shrinking programs that help the poor and the middle class,” she said, citing college Pell Grants. “ We should also be increasing the minimum wage, making sure equal pay is enforced, expanding Medicaid in all 50 states, providing Earned Income Credits and childcare credits, so that a working class wage and a middle class wage has more power than it does now.” She would also cut the student interest rate for college tuition to the level banks pay to transfer funds, which would keep it very low.

Social Issues/ Civil Rights: Pingree is a staunch supporter of women’s rights on equal pay issues and the right to choose. She opposed the Hobby Lobby decision, and would back economic support for families, which often translates into greater support for women. She would increase a childcare and elder care tax credit, improve access to health care for women and families, and support the Equal Rights Amendment if it were to come up again before Congress.

“ We have decreased shares of grants and funding for all sorts of social needs,” Pingree said. “Students have high interest rates that may force them into the wrong job choices. We need to establish rules for debt forgiveness for graduates who move into fields that we as a society need to fill.”

Some of those situations, she said, would be teachers who work in difficult schools and doctors who choose to work in rural or underserved areas.

Pingree said that in the recent difficulties in places like Ferguson, Missouri, are emblematic of struggles the nation is facing that we don’t want to face.

“We don’t want to admit we live in a nation with a racist past,” she said. “But we need renewed understanding of that past, and law enforcement must be trained to deal with the social issues, as well as the immediate concerns.”

She said that the high pressure of many guns on the street is fueling some of the unrest.

Pingree would have preferred a single-payer plan, or at least a public option.

“Fifty percent of doctors wanted it,” she said. “That should have been taken into account.”

However, in the current partisan atmosphere, she does not see any room to move toward a singlepayer plan or even a public option.

“ The only time the House Republicans are willing to bring it up at all is to try to defund the Affordable Care Act or rescind it,” she said.

Pingree said there are problems inherent with the ACA, including lack of competition in small states which leads to higher rates. However, she thinks those could be solved by Medicaid expansion.

“Providers want to get paid,” she said, “and they will take their money from the people who can pay. If we expand Medicaid, they’ll get paid, and our rates will come down.”

Pingree is in favor of campaign finance reform, and would have liked a clean elections program like the one we have in Maine. She said a constitutional amendment is necessary to do away with the Citizens United decision, “but also things like corporate personhood. Money is speech? Seriously?”

She would also favor redistricting reform, given to a nonpartisan or fully bipartisan committee, taking it out of the political arena. She is also in favor of instant runoff voting.

Pingree said that she is in favor of reasonable regulations on gun ownership, including the gun show loophole.

Pingree said that the NSA has gone too far in eclipsing liberties in the U.S., but understands how it happened.

“After 9/ 11, anyone could be a terrorist,” she said. “ Still, there is no need to snoop through citizens phone calls and emails. We tried to improve the restrictions, but the law is pretty toothless.”

She thinks that America should not be facing a possible Ebola crisis without a Surgeon General, whose nomination is being held up because he termed gun violence “a health care crisis” in the U.S. The director of the CDC said that absent a funding squeeze at the Centers for Disease Control, it is possible that we would have an Ebola vaccine today. Pingree said much medical research through the CDC has been curtailed. The funding was cut by libertarian-minded House members and senators.

Pingree also said that immigration reform should be brought to a vote in the House, where there are enough votes to pass any immigration measure.

“ There is no good excuse,” she said. “ The Speaker simply won’t allow the bill to come to a vote.”

International Issues/Military: Pingree is supportive of the military, and believes that veterans and their families should be cared for during and after the conflict.

On ISIS, she said that there is no will on the part of the American people, and thus the Congress, to get into a war in the middle east.

“ However, we need to deal with terrorism as a threat,” she said, referring to Americans who have been killed by the militants. “ Other nations should be involved, not just the United States.”

Pingree said that there need to be cuts to the military expenditures, because the U.S. economy can’t sustain the costs. She discussed the Pentagon’s desire to end the F-35 program, but the funds keep being returned to the budget because the contractor has established parts of the program in many states.

“ It’s strange when the Joint Chiefs come to Congress and testify that we don’t need a program, but then it finds its way back into the budget, year after year,” she said.

Pingree thinks that we need to do more to demonstrate that we are willing to work within coalitions in international situations, and have to be honest about what led up to the Iraq/Afghanistan wars with those coalitions. She believes that one of the most important things we can do to win back friends is close Guantanamo, as President Obama promised to do before his election, and on the day of his inauguration.

“We can move them into high security prisons in the U. S.,” she said. “ We assume they are safe enough for violent prisoners of all kinds, I don’t understand why these prisoners would be any different.”

Environment/Climate Change/Energy: Pingree said that the understanding that climate change is real and human-caused is just barely starting to take hold in Congress.

“People are beginning to understand that severe weather patterns are a symptom of global warming,” she said. “In Maine, we have lobstermen having to go further offshore, sea levels rising, invasive species taking out whole fisheries.”

There was a lot that was good in the most recent energy bill, Pingree said, but there was not enough money to be able to implement all the things that were in the bill.

“ Weatherization, production tax credits for alternative energy, including wind, solar, and tidal,” she said, “are all part of the energy bill, but the money’s not there to fund them.”

She said she would like to take some funding from oil and gas subsidies, but in this Congress, getting such a thing through would be unlikely. She is not in favor of additional nuclear energy facilities at this time.

“We still have waste on site at Wiscasset with nowhere to go,” she pointed out.

She said while fracking is a severe problem locally, and Maine is very lucky we don’t have fracking here, it is a quiet problem, and no one in Congress is willing to look at it systemically.

Pingree is opposed to the XL Pipeline, on the grounds that the fuel would not be used in the U.S. and that it would possibly pollute the Ogalala Aquifer, which provides irrigation and drinking water for a good part of the country. She also doesn’t want to see a reversal of the Portland Montreal No. 9 pipeline, which, if it spilled, would pollute the drinking water for 15 percent of the state.

The FEMA flood map issue has been largely postponed, but she is not in favor of changing the rules for coastal communities.

“ Not only are working waterfronts and historic fishing villages threatened, the second home business is a big one, a man reminded me while we were looking at the issue,” she said. “ It’s a huge part of the housing industry, and we look to housing to lead us out of recession.”

Pingree said that we need to step up and become world leaders on the issue of climate change. We missed the boat twice, and a third summit is scheduled. “The world expects us to lead on this,” she said. “We are in danger of losing our position to countries like China and India, who are ahead of us on solar panels and other clean energy initiatives.”

Isaac Misiuk (R)

Isaac Misiuk is a political science major at U.S.M, currently in his sophomore year. He has taken a leave from the university to mount his campaign.

In 2012, Misiuk said he got active in politics in Maine.

“I was a nontraditional student, so it was a very different lifestyle than most of the students I was seeing everyday. I was working, raising a family, dealing with financial stress,” he said. “I realized that I believed that the government should have to live within its means, too. They shouldn’t be able to bail themselves out or begin expensive new programs by raising the debt ceiling.”

Misiuk pointed out that the average age of a member of Congress is 57, but they are making decisions that will affect his generation, and the generation of his six-year-old son. That’s mostly why he got involved — to offer his generation’s input into the process.

Misiuk has only a small amount of cash on hand, and he said that he doesn’t expect a cash infusion from the NRCC or the state party.

“But,” he said, “I don’t think that money wins elections,” and he pointed to the upset loss of Eric Cantor by underfunded tea party candidate Dave Brat to illustrate his point.

He said that he would consider term limits for Congress, because members of Congress become too comfortable and “too cocky.”

“It opens up weaknesses,” he said.

Misiuk said that he has been to numerous events and hasn’t seen Chellie Pingree at any of them.

“It’s almost as if she’s taking this election for granted,” he said. “And taking the constituency for granted.”

He acknowledges that Congress as a body is not well regarded, but points out that “ everyone loves their own representative. That’s not going to change.”

He said that Congress has received poor marks for being the most inactive Congress since the 1940s, but for Misiuk, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“They weren’t spending money they didn’t have,” he quipped.

He said he differs from his opponent in personal wealth — she’s the 12th wealthiest member of Congress.

“Pingree isn’t the representative of Maine, she’s the representative of the one percent,” he said.

He also believes Pingree favors big government.

“ She has no problem spending money before it comes in,” Misiuk said.

Pingree favors clean elections on a national scale to try to avoid big money playing into a campaign, but Misiuk said he doesn’t favor publicly financed campaigns.

“ That money could be well-spent elsewhere,” he said.

Economy: Misiuk said he is not in favor of minimum wage increases. While Walmart and other large corporations could absorb the costs, he argues, mom-and-pop businesses could not. They would have to cut employees or raise prices. He said that he is not in favor of mandating that employees must join a union, although he does not object to unions. He calls it a 10th Amendment issue.

He believes that inequality would be solved if Congress had a balanced budget.

He also believes we must get out of the mindset that it’s necessary to go to college.

“ The cost of college tuition has risen more than 400 percent over the last 30 years,” he said. “Most people don’t need a degree to do the work they do, but when they come out of college, they get a low- paying job and have enormous debt.”

He is not in favor of any tax increases, but would consider raising the cap on Social Security contributions. While he “doesn’t like taxes,” he believes taxes should be separated out by what they are meant to pay for. For instance, the gas tax should pay for road and infrastructure improvement.

He also believes that government regulation has a place, but it is necessary to acknowledge that they can be burdensome. Blanket regulation is not the way to go, he said.

He would not favor extending long term unemployment insurance.

Misiuk does not believe the U.S. needs a stimulus for either job creation or infrastructure improvement. He favors a pay-asyou go plan.

He is not entirely certain where he would come down on the TransPacific Partnership, but points out that trade agreements that have not been good for the country have come from both parties.

“We need to see our own country prosper,” he said. “Any trade agreement should have give and take that benefits all parties.”

He would favor reopening trade with Cuba.

In income tax, he favors a flat tax.

“ I don’t think people should be unfairly penalized for success.”

Social Issues/ Civil Rights: He believes that the Affordable Care Act should be overhauled entirely, with more of an emphasis on the free market. He is not happy that young healthy people pay more to make it affordable for older, sicker people. On the other hand, he believes that the ACA has done some valuable things and would try to save the best parts of the program while making it more fair to the young.

He supports women’s rights to reproductive health care, including abortion, but doesn’t consider health care a right, and favors the religious freedom of an employer to not provide any or all health care based on his or her beliefs. He would favor an Equal Rights Amendment.

He believes that samesex marriage should be a states’ rights issue.

He thinks the Department of Education should be abolished, with all decisions reverting to the states, and do away with Pell Grants and student loan programs.

He believes that only people who have been documented to be mentally unstable should be prevented from obtaining firearms. He doesn’t support a universal background check and, in fact, buys and sells weapons privately, but responsibly, to avoid having to undergo a background check.

He opposes NSA spying on Americans and the PATRIOT Act.

International Issues/Military: Misiuk said that it is not our place to return to Iraq or to be the world’s police force in general. He supports a “strong military, but not a blank check” to purchase what the military needs.

He would not favor the UN as an international police force, but would favor our allies banding together to create one (such as NATO).

He believes that the remaining prisoners at Guantanamo need to be tried if there is hard evidence against them that could be used at trial that they committed war crimes or terrorist actions.

He said that to repair our international reputation, we need a strong leader. He said we need someone who will make us not look like a joke overseas, and that Congress should reassert its war powers under the Constitution. He thinks that the last strong leader was Washington, precisely because he didn’t want the job and refused to do it after two terms.

Environment/Climate Change/Energy: Misiuk doesn’t see any evidence for anthropogenic climate change. He believes it is a natural cycle.

Misiuk said that assistance to people attempting to get off fossil fuels should be a state by state issue.

He is in favor of the XL Pipeline, but would oppose the reversal of the Montreal Portland pipeline. He said that a lot of changes have been made to the XL Pipeline to make it safe.

Misiuk said that residents living in coastal regions must accept the risks of living there, and that while aid should be offered in the event of an emergency, such as temporary shelter, he would oppose paying to rebuild in flood prone areas.