The House District 68 race features incumbent Richard (Rich) Cebra (R-Naples)  against challenger Patrick Scully (I-Naples). HD 68 includes Naples, Sebago, Baldwin, Cornish and Parsonsfield.

The News posed the following questions to the candidates; and their responses are arranged in alphabetical order:

Q. 1 — What qualities, skills and experiences do you possess that make you the best candidate for the job?

Cebra: I have always been a strong proponent of our liberties and have always listened to all sides, but then when it comes time to make my decision, I base it on firm constitutional principles and the Jeffersonian model of the government, that the happiness and prosperity of our citizens... is the only legitimate object of government.

As a local small business owner and someone who has been very involved locally for almost 20 years, I have faithfully represented the people of our area in the legislature for 12 of the last 16 years. Having served on the Naples Budget Committee for five years, the Causeway Redevelopment Committee, the Naples Comprehensive Plan Committee, and the Naples Selectboard for four years, I have a very good handle on how our area citizens and our local town governments interact with the state, and the state interacts with them. As the former chairman of the Transportation Committee in Augusta, I have really focused on and have been successful in advocating for our area infrastructure with MDOT.

People around here know that I have always been who I say I am, and if we agree on something or not, I have always done my best and tell it like it is.

Scully: I practiced law for 36 years and served for six years as the CEO of my law firm, managing a business of over 200 employees. In my practice, I represented many Maine towns and cities, and I also represented clients before several state agencies, including the Public Utilities Commission and the Maine DEP.

I understand how state and local government works and I am experienced in advocating for people and businesses. As the CEO of my firm, I have valuable experience running a significant business and dealing with many of the daily challenges that Maine businesses face. I believe my skills and experiences as an advocate and business leader prepared me well to advocate for my community in the Legislature.   

Q. 2 — As Maine continues to contend with and bounce back from the Covid-19 pandemic, what three area should state government focus on and what possible solutions would you propose?

Cebra: It is important to realize that under the Mills Administration, the state government has grown by more than 800 million dollars in new spending this budget. The first priority is fighting for fiscal responsibility in the state government, as I have always done.

Second, it is important for us to reduce regulations so that businesses can recover and come back from this crisis. I have always fought for getting government out of the way so Mainers can prosper, and now it is even more important than ever.

Third, I would really like the state to focus more on vocational and technical education. The benefits for Maine people are huge, and in the new post-Covid economy we are going to need people to really be ready to roll up their sleeves and get our economy back on its feet.

Scully: First, we must continue to educate and inform the public about the virus, how to stay safe and the need for vaccination when a safe and effective vaccine becomes available. 

Second, we need to reopen our economy and businesses and scale back restrictions on business as soon as circumstances permit. 

Finally, we need to look for every opportunity to assist our small businesses to reopen and recover from the economic impact of the pandemic, including through all available State and federal loans, grants, tax credits and other support.       

Q. 3 — Where do you stand on the proposed Central Maine Power proposed transmission corridor, good or bad deal and why?

Cebra: I am not a big fan of the whole issue. There should have been far more public input earlier in the process. I also do not like the way the referendum process could be hijacked and weaponized to stop things that have gone through the process of getting approved. The whole thing is an ugly situation that could have been avoided; an important lesson should be learned from the whole mess going forward.

Scully: I am opposed to the CMP transmission corridor. While the project will bring some benefits to Maine, including short-term construction jobs, I believe the negative impacts of this project outweigh the benefits. The purpose of the 145-mile line is to allow Hydro Quebec to sell power from its massive hydro projects in Canada to customers in Massachusetts. Maine is simply the pathway. I would prefer that we build more solar and other renewable projects in Maine to meet regional needs, because local projects will generate more long-term jobs and provide greater economic benefits to Maine with fewer negative impacts. 

Q. 4 — If elected, what items/issues would be priorities and what might be ways to address them?

Cebra: It’s important to note that we were in far better financial condition as a state government under the LePage administration when we were following sound fiscal policies, we had a surplus, no curtailments were needed, no furloughs, no budget gimmicks, so restoring fiscal restraint to state government the way we were able to do under the LePage administration is very important for Maine’s future.

Keeping the tax burden from growing to pay for Janet Mills’ overspending, and at the same time reducing the size and scope of government.

Strengthening the checks and balances to state government so the governor could never again act as a dictator the way Governor Mills has these last several months, issuing edicts without proper oversight.

Scully: My priorities are jobs, education and health care. I believe a healthy economy requires that we deal with all three of these issues. We need a strong public education system to prepare our young people for the higher paying jobs of the 21st century. Our high schools, technical schools and community colleges need to collaborate closely with business and industry to identify future employment opportunities and to develop the programs that will train students for those jobs. 

The Lake Region, in particular, needs to bring more good paying job opportunities to this area if we are to keep our young people here. 

We need to ensure that local hospitals and health care providers remain available in this area, and that health care is accessible and affordable for our people.  The state needs to find ways to address the financial challenges faced by rural hospitals so that they can stay open. We need to create incentives for employers to provide health care coverage to their employees and otherwise look for opportunities to increase the number of Mainers who have access to health insurance.        

Q. 5 — What are the three biggest challenges Maine faces in the next three years…

Cebra: Janet Mills growing government which is hurting our businesses and our jobs.

Janet Mills spending money the state does not have, putting our state in a bad fiscal crisis.

Janet Mills raising taxes on you and me to cover her ballooning state government.

Everything else follows because of those things.

Scully: In the near term, state government is facing a serious budget shortfall due to the pandemic; Maine needs to develop a higher skilled workforce to allow existing businesses to grow, to induce new businesses to come to our state and to support higher incomes for our workers; health care is becoming unaffordable and less available and too many Maine people do not have health insurance.

Q. 6 — …And how should state government go about addressing those challenges?

Cebra: Stand against them at every turn, fight for lower taxes, less government and opportunities for Maine people to prosper. Restore responsible government in Augusta.

Scully: To address the budget shortfall, I do not support tax increases. We will need to make some very painful budget decisions. This will require prioritizing the most important state services, such as education, public safety and health care and finding ways to reduce or cut less critical state programs and services until our economy recovers. Hopefully, the federal government will provide assistance, as well.

We need a focused workforce development program in Maine that brings together educators, business and industry and State government in a collaborative effort to develop strong programs at the high school, technical school and community college level to train our young people in the skills necessary to compete for good jobs in Maine. 

We need a state level commitment to preserving local rural hospitals like Bridgton Hospital. We need to fully implement the expansion of MaineCare to all eligible citizens and we need to create incentives for employers to provide health insurance to their employees. We need to create much more transparency in health care costs and give patients incentives to choose lower cost options. We need better support for healthy lifestyles to reduce unnecessary health complications, including smoking cessation, exercise and weight management, and treatment programs for substance abuse.