My friend Bree LaCasse works harder than anyone. She worked so hard for Barack Obama that she was asked to introduce Michelle Obama at a Maine campaign stop. She took on conventional wisdom to prevent the sale of Congress Square Park and has since helped create a vibrant space for community activity. As further shown by her work with the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project and Portland Museum of Art, Bree makes things happen.

However, as a fellow Reiche School alumnus, what I admire most about Bree is that she’s the winner of the 1987 Howard C. Reiche Award for best all-around fifth-grader. From the perspective of a West End kid, this is like a Rhodes Scholarship, Pulitzer Prize, Nobel Prize and Oscar, rolled into one.

Bree possesses the right balance of qualities to be an excellent at-large Portland city councilor: combining vision with action, personal toughness with compassion and independence with teamwork.

Sam Spencer

Portland