Vote Cheryl Golek for state rep

Over the past three years, I’ve volunteered as a driver for state Rep. Cheryl Golek (who represents Harpswell and parts of Brunswick), taking her door to door as she campaigned for her first term and now her second.

Cheryl is a remarkable person. She was born poor and worked her way up through startling difficulties.

By now, she’s knocked on several thousand doors. Her goal is to visit every door in the district — an astonishing number.

But she doesn’t just walk up and say, “Hi. Please vote for me,” and run away. No, she asks questions — “What’s on your mind?”, “What can Augusta (and I) do for you?”

Then she listens to people’s answers. At length. I’ve sat in my car, waiting for a good 40 minutes or more, while she visited ONE door!

Cheryl never comes back to the car saying, “That person’s wrong!” She thinks peacefully about what they said, writes it down and moves on.

And I’ve slowly begun to understand that Cheryl is exactly right. She’s collecting information on what people actually care about, and want, and need — in order to figure out what she and our government can do to help.

Cheryl gives me hope for politics, for Maine and for America. As John F. Kennedy said, “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.”

Thank you, Cheryl! I hope readers will join me in voting for her in November.

George Simonson,
Harpswell

Vote blue to support lower health care costs

This election in November is a choice between two very different visions for our shared future.

As vice president, Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate to pass a law for Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices for 10 drugs and capped the cost of insulin for seniors at $35/month. In addition, next year Medicare beneficiaries will have to pay no more than $2,000 a year out of their own pockets for prescription drugs. (As a supporter of universal health care, I personally hope we can push for negotiation of prices of ALL prescription drug prices and expand the out-of-pocket caps to EVERYONE, not just seniors.)

As Vice President Harris said, she “will never stop fighting for the health, well-being and financial stability of the American people,” and she and Gov. Tim Walz have a plan to protect and improve Medicare by making the wealthy pay their fair share.

In contrast, Donald Trump has proposed cutting Medicare every year he was in office and wants to repeal the law capping insulin costs. He also wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, ending health care protections for people with pre-existing conditions and increasing the cost of prescription drugs for 18 million seniors and others on Medicare.

On Nov. 5, we must vote for the future we want. As a physician and a patient myself, my choice is clear.

Julie Keller Pease, M.D.,
Topsham