AUGUSTA

In the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign, Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason welcomed then-candidate Donald Trump to the stage at a campaign rally in Lisbon.

“We are 11 days away from electing a Republican president, a Republican Congress and a Republican Legislature right here in the state of Maine,” Mason predicted at the time.

He was right on almost all counts, with Trump winning the presidency, and Republicans maintaining control of Congress and the Maine Senate, but not with the Maine House of Representatives. Mason won his reelection bid as well, and now sits as the second highest ranking Republican in the state Senate.

Recently, Mason spoke with The Times Record about some of the bills and issues that he is focused on in the 128th Legislature.

As chairman of the Veterans and Legal Affairs committee, Mason is concerned with the implementation of many of the referendum issues passed by voters in November. One of more than a dozen bills he submitted would restore the tip credit which will eventually be eliminated over time under the minimum wage referendum.

“I think that’s really important, especially when you look at coastal Maine and the major industries around where we are — it’s restaurants,” said Mason. “That’s gonna put a real dent in their paycheck. People don’t realize that tip credit is what is causing such high wage jobs in the restaurant industry.

“The minimum wage is a great way to increase poverty in this state,” he continued.

Another referendum issue that Mason is no fan of is Question 2, which placed a surcharge tax of 3 percent on incomes greater than $200,000 for the purpose of funding education in the state.

“I have not been shy about this, but I’m looking for the full repeal of Question 2. That was an absolute train wreck at the polls. I mean, the people of Senate District 22 voted heavily against this, and I’m going to fight to make sure we get rid of it,” he said.

In fact, Mason stated that he’s looking to roll back or “severely amend” all of the ballot questions that passed last year.

“We have to stop governing this state by referendum,” he said. “The left has made it their play because they can’t win in the Legislature and they can’t have their way all the time like they did for 30 years. They have decided that they are going to run referendums on every left-wing idea that they have. We have to find a way to fix that. We are not a direct democracy.”

Beyond tackling referendum issues, Mason is hoping to expand a charter school bill he sponsored in his first term in the state Senate which was signed into law. Under that law, the number of charter schools in Maine is capped at 10 for the first 10 years. Mason’s bill would eliminate that cap.

“My question to the Legislature would be why stop the innovation now? We’ve had wild, runaway successes with our charter schools, and I think we should keep moving forward with more,” he said. “The two virtual schools — everybody was so scared of these virtual schools, but there’s waiting lists out the door for kids who are looking to do things like be a professional athlete. They’re able to train and go to school all at the same time while not on a traditional schedule.”

Rumors have swirled that Mason is planning a run for governor in 2018, but so far he has yet to announce any campaign. When questioned by The Times Record, he stated that he was undecided for the moment.

“I haven’t made a decision on that yet, that’s an honest answer,” said Mason.

nstrout@timesrecord.com