Grohman attacks Pingree over defense votes; Pingree campaign fires back

BATH — Independent Congressional candidate Marty Grohman released an ad Monday attacking incumbent Democrat Chellie Pingree over her past votes on national defense legislation.

“Bath Iron Works and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard are two of the biggest employers in our district,” Grohman says in the ad. “It’s critical that Maine’s representatives strongly support the (National Defense Authorization Act), but that’s not what’s been happening. When the NDAA has been up for a vote, Congresswoman Pingree has voted no about half the time. She’s voted against literally billions of dollars in funding. Why would a Maine representative vote against Maine jobs?”

The NDAA is the first part of a two-step process to fund military spending. The NDAA authorizes spending, while a later appropriations bill actually allocates the spending. The NDAA usually authorizes hundreds of billions in military spending.

The NDAA also authorizes funding for several shipbuilding programs, including the two at Bath Iron Works.

Grohman’s attacks are directed at multiple votes Pingree has taken against the NDAA, the latest being on the initial 2016 version of the bill. While Pingree has voted against the authorization bill multiple times, she has voted in favor of the subsequent appropriations bills.

“The most important action that Maine’s representatives to Congress can take to support Maine jobs is to back our shipyards no matter what the DC political parties say,” said Grohman. “That isn’t what has been happening, but I’ll change that. I pledge to support Maine’s shipyards 100 percent of the time.”

But a spokesperson with the Pingree campaign challenged Grohman’s characterization of the legislation, arguing that it’s impossible to isolate spending that benefits BIW from the many other policies affecting the nation’s defense industry.

“The National Defense Authorization Act is an enormous piece of legislation that authorizes the spending of nearly a trillion dollars in taxpayers’ money and contains numerous new policies each year,” said Campaign Manager Eric Feigenbaum. “It would be wholly irresponsible for any member of Congress to vote on any bill, let alone one as consequential as the NDAA, without reviewing it carefully on a case-by-case basis.”

Feigenbaum also pointed to Pingree’s efforts to secure funding for BIW through her work on the House Appropriations committee.

“Chellie has a been fierce advocate for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Bath Iron Works, and to suggest otherwise is simply false. On the committee, she has fought tirelessly for funding and has introduced amendments to support jobs and higher wages for the hardworking men and women of these yards,” he said in a statement. “As recently as July of this year, she won a hard-fought battle to save $250 million in funding for BIW that was on the chopping block.”

Grohman, an independent state representative from Biddeford, is challenging longtime incumbent Pingree, who has held the seat since 2008. Also on the ballot is Republican candidate Mark Holbrook, who failed to unseat Pingree in 2016.

Holbrook piled on Tuesday, stating: “Pingree is probably the most anti-American member of the House of Representatives Maine has ever sent to Washington. She has most always voted against any of the spending bills that would have supported Bath Iron Works. It’s unfortunate that the only people she wants to support are organic farmers.”

Feigenbaum declined to respond to Holbrook’s attack.

[email protected]

Share this: