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Pursuant to House Rule 201, it is my honor to address the House.
Good morning and welcome, members of the 124th Maine Legislature,
families and guests. It is great honor, and one that is only beginning
to sink in, to stand before you as the 99th Speaker of the Maine
House of Representatives. I am humbled by your support and confidence.
I want to especially thank Majority Leader John Piotti and Minority
Leader Josh Tardy for their nominations and kind words.
John is a good friend and someone I have admired greatly during our six years in the House together. John has done important work here for causes as diverse as Maine’s dairy Industry, the expansion of Baxter State Park, and tax reform. His integrity and consistent leadership have been an excellent example to us all, and I look forward to the work we will do together in this session.
Josh Tardy has been the Republican Leader of this House for the past two years, and has earned great respect from all of its members for his sincere commitment to this body, his district, and this state. I appreciate Josh’s friendship, and I look forward to working with him again in the coming session. Even when we disagree, Josh and I have found ways to work together, and I hope that each of you will do the same with your colleagues across the aisle.
Unfortunately, Josh Tardy also has a deep, dark secret… He’s a notepad thief. New members, if you remember nothing else from my speech, remember this: guard your notepad closely; we have yet to pass a law protecting legislators from temporary identity theft.
This state and this country have just been through a historic election year – in terms of race, gender, and the issues that confront our state and nation. And each of you has been through a campaign of your own. Whether it was your first or just your latest, you had to work hard, you had to sacrifice, and your family had to sacrifice with you to make this day possible.
Today, fellow House members – especially for the 52 new members of this body - we are no longer candidates, but representatives. We are no longer campaigning for the support of our constituents; we are here to make a difference for the State of Maine on their behalf.
This is your new challenge. And if you thought campaigning was hard – and I know it was – this job is much tougher: Together, we face the task of governing our state through some of the most trying times it has faced in a generation.
In order to face these challenges, we’re going to need to do more than just speak our minds. We’re going to have to listen to each other, to weigh opinions and ideas other than our own, and even consider supporting ideas we would never have considered otherwise. We’re going to have to put the competition of campaign season aside and commit ourselves to working together.
In my six years here, I’ve found that the best way to do this is to learn more about the members I’ve served with. It’s a lot easier to find common ground with someone if you know a little bit about where they come from. So before I talk about the problems and potential solutions we will consider this session, let me tell you a little bit about some of your colleagues, and a little bit about me.
We have representatives from city districts, coastal areas, the mountains, potato country, and lots of us from the rural areas of our state. We have members of all ages and professions – with important and diverse life experiences. And as I learned last night, we have three former Texans who have apparently seen the light – or enjoy the cold -- in this body.
The youngest of you, Representative Henry Beck of Waterville, is 22 years old. The senior member is Representative Walter Wheeler of Kittery, and he recently celebrated his 83rd birthday.
Two of your colleagues, Representative Nancy Smith of Monmouth, and Representative Dean Cray of Palmyra, have spent much of their lives working on their family farms.
Nancy and her husband Ivan run a diversified dairy farm and just spent two days processing nearly 300 Thanksgiving turkeys over one weekend at their farm, Snafu Acres. And as my family can attest, their turkeys are excellent.
Dean Cray and his wife Darlene are running their third generation farm in Palmyra. This year they sold about 1 and a half tons of squash and 1900 pumpkins from their farm stand. Even though the rainy summer wasn't ideal for the potatoes in the ground and the tomatoes were slow to ripen, having more than one crop made it an okay year, from what I hear.
We have a number of former members of the Senate (other body) serving in this House. Personally, I think this reflects well on how much fun the House is, but I think it also shows the long commitment members have for our state. Rep. Paul Davis, Rep. Sharon Treat, and Rep. John Martin have each served the Senate as leaders in their caucuses over the past six years.
Two members of this body of whom I am especially fond are returning members Representative Paulette Beaudoin, of Biddeford and Representative Jim Campbell, of Newfield. Both have spent their legislative careers, and much time before coming to the House, as prominent advocates for Maine’s senior citizens. It is a pleasure to have them both back in this House.
We also have two veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who are newly elected to this body. Representative Jared Crockett of Bethel served as a captain in the Maine Army National Guard. In late 2005, he commanded a company in Afghanistan. During his 18-month tour, he was awarded a Bronze Star for his meritorious service to our country.
Representative Alex Cornell du Houx of Brunswick is a United States Marine who, before graduating from Bowdoin College, served a 12-month tour of duty in Fallujah.
These two Representatives are the latest in a proud history of military veterans elected to this House, and in welcoming them both as freshmen members, I applaud their service to our country.
I believe we have a wonderful group in the 124th legislature. Get to know each other – it will help you enjoy this experience and it will enhance what we can do together.
Many of you know me well – but for those of you who don’t know me, I am 32 years old, and I’m from the island of North Haven. I have been married for a year and half to Jason Mann, who works as a film-editor. We have a 3-year-old black lab named Willie. Jason is an incredibly supportive spouse and exactly the kind of person I need to support me over these next two years.
Like many of you, I also have the support of a wonderful family. Most of my family is here with me today, including my dad, Charlie and my step-mother Susan Minot, my sisters Cecily and Ava, and my mom, Chellie -- who some of you might recognize as the newest Congresswoman from Maine. My brother Asa and my four-year old nephew Smith couldn’t be here today, as they are in Brooklyn, New York, but they are great supporters.
Growing up, my parents started out running a small farm, and then both went on to run other successful small businesses. My dad builds amazing boats and my mom spent many years running a mail-order knitting company, before starting her life in public service. I have watched both of my parents work hard to employ their neighbors, meet a payroll, and contribute to their community on the local school board and as volunteer firefighters and EMT’s and countless other roles. Their commitment to serving our community has had a tremendous influence on me.
I know that like me, many of you have spouses, parents, siblings and children here today from whom you have learned a great deal. As I ask my family to stand and be recognized, I’d also like to recognize all the families who are here to support each of us today – and I’d ask you to stand or wave and be recognized.
In the legislature I represent a district of ten island and coastal towns. It is an amazing group of towns that includes some of Maine’s most isolated and unique communities. I greatly appreciate the support of my constituents, and I especially want to thank the people here today who have supported me over the course of my legislative career -- and for some of them, like my principal Barney Hallowell, for most of my life.
The position I am assuming today, Speaker of the Maine House, has been held by 98 people in the 188 years since Maine became a state. At the age of 32, believe it or not, I am the 12th youngest Speaker in Maine history. Our youngest Speaker, Hannibal Hamlin, was chosen for this prestigious post in 1837 at 27 years of age. He then went on to be a Congressman, a US Senator, Governor of Maine, and Vice President of the United States under Abraham Lincoln. The honorable Mr. Hamlin set the bar a little high, if you ask me.
I am the second woman to serve as Speaker of this House. As many
of you know, in 1994, Libby Mitchell was the first woman elected
as a Maine Speaker. Today she’ll be sworn in as the first
woman in Maine (American?) history to serve as both the Speaker
of the House and the President of the Senate. It is an honor to
follow her footsteps and I greatly look forward to working with
her.
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I believe each of us has an important role to play as a member
of this House as leaders of our state during a very uncertain time.
Maine and the nation face one of the largest financial crises we
have ever confronted, and a recession that is already being felt
throughout our state. It has significantly impacted our state budget
and our constituents, and it will most likely get worse over the
coming months.
Our paper mill employees, our fishermen and boat builders, our store clerks and teachers, and our small and large businesses all face an uncertain future. For seniors in our state who are watching their retirements vanish, families facing foreclosure, or Mainers who are losing their jobs -- this will be one of the most difficult times they will face in their lives. AND many of these Mainers will turn to you for help.
Our primary job is to find ways to invest in our state’s future while helping our citizens weather the economic storm we face today.
Despite the huge economic challenges, I believe we have tremendous opportunities before us. My apologies to the House Democrats who have heard this before, but I can’t help but repeat something I recently heard in a speech by Russell Libby, the head of the Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association.
Russell said, “think of the Maine economy like a bucket that we fill up with the income we all earn and the spending we do for things we need. Then consider the fact that Maine sends $6 billion a year out of state for the energy we consume, and $5 billion a year out of state for the food we consume.” These $11 billon dollars a year mean, “Maine’s economic bucket has huge holes in it.”
Imagine if we focus this session on diverting just 10% of our food and energy spending to Maine sources. That is more than a billion dollars that would be spent on our Maine farmers and fishermen, on alternative energy jobs and income, or your local woodsman. It is money that would stay in our community and multiply, strengthening not only our local businesses, but also the communities that depend on those businesses.
Whether we focus on processing our lobsters and blueberries in state; creating a regulatory environment and new incentives to encourage massive new production of renewable energy; or on feeding our families with the products of Maine farmers – we can bring these billions of dollars back to Maine. With the right roadmap, by the time our freshmen members are finishing their final term, Maine could be generating more power and energy than we need. Our farmers could be feeding Maine and New England.
And there couldn’t be a more important time to focus on these issues. Just last month, the US Department of Agriculture released a disturbing piece of data: the percentage of people struggling with hunger increased more in Maine than in any other state between 2002 and 2007. We rank 5th worst overall for food insecurity, with 13% of Mainers struggling regularly to feed their families.
This is simply unacceptable. Worse yet, during a time of economic crisis, levels of food “insecurity” could rise, as parents lose their jobs and elderly residents choose between heat and food. This is an issue I look forward to working on with this House, Maine farmers and others to address in a serious and urgent way.
While fuel prices have dropped, we still face a long-term energy crisis. Dependence on fossil fuels is a long-term threat to the stability of Maine’s businesses and the wellbeing of its people. But Maine is well positioned to capitalize on dramatic changes in our nation’s energy policy, and to bring new energy jobs to our state.
In coordination with Senate President Mitchell and working with all of you, I will work to form a Joint Select Committee on Energy early in the 124th session. The new committee’s agenda will be exactly these issues – creating and attracting jobs in the clean energy sector, generating and saving energy in our homes, businesses and communities, reducing carbon emissions, and creating policies that will benefit Maine people long after we are gone.
Balancing our state budget isn’t easy in any session, but it poses an even greater challenge now, in the face of a recession. That said, if we are willing to work hard, to be creative, and to tell each other and Maine people the truth, we can pass a balanced budget that represents a sensible investment in the future of our state - one that respects the economic hardship we face, but looks forward with optimism and common sense.
And I know we can, as we did in the House last session, pass a meaningful tax reform package to help Maine families in this difficult economic climate.
In this session, we can help Mainers gain access to affordable health insurance, especially if we see meaningful change from our new President and Congress. We can find innovative solutions that provide education and training for Maine’s young people, an investment in our future that we absolutely must make.
We can expand and improve the infrastructure that makes Maine’s economy possible – from roads and rail lines to broadband access. Investing in our infrastructure will provide needed jobs in the short term. In the long term, it will provide our state’s economy with avenues for growth.
All of these needs will require us to think differently, to be smarter; but we have no other choice. Can we make progress on all these issues during a recession? I think the answer HAS to be: Yes.
All of us - Democrats and Republicans, and Tom Saviello - must seek common ground on these important issues, even as we disagree on others. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to embrace the chances you will all have to work together – especially when it seems the most difficult.
As your Speaker, I can promise you three things: I will work my hardest every day to bring this House together. I will do my best to put each of you in positions where you can contribute meaningfully. And, I will work as hard as I can to lead and support you with a spirit of fairness.
Thank you again for the tremendous honor of serving as your Speaker,
and congratulations to each of you on this important day. Enjoy
it! Thank you.