FAQ

As I candidate, I get asked lots of questions – some honest and straightforward, others seeking to cast me in a negative light. Here are my candid answers to all these questions.

1. Why are you running for governor?

I am running because Maine can work. I love this state and care deeply about its future.  Maine may seem broken, but we can make it work again, for all of us.

My plan for Maine starts with two things: candor and confidence.  Candor means acknowledging that the next decade is going to be the most challenging time in Maine’s history. Too many Maine people are not working, or are working at jobs that don’t allow them to adequately provide for their families. At the same time, our state government is spending too much but not always working as efficiently or effectively as it can. We need to cut the cost of living and doing business in Maine, and we need to get value for our money from state government.

My confidence comes from my belief that this can also be an exciting time, filled with great opportunity. With strong, independent leadership, Maine can work again. By focusing on – and investing in – Maine’s competitive advantages, we can create good jobs and raise incomes. We can make government live within its means and operate with more efficiency and accountability. We can lower our energy and healthcare costs. We can work together as One Maine again, with a common purpose and shared commitment.

I have spent a lifetime as a successful businessman, public official and lawyer.  I am politically skilled and an experienced manager and entrepreneur.  I have changed government policies, reshaped programs, pared budgets and zeroed out programs that don’t work.

I want to put my skills, experience and independence to work for Maine.  This is why I want to be Maine’s next Governor.

2. Why are you running as an Independent?

I am running as an Independent because I am one. I spent many years as a Democrat and a shorter time as a Republican, but I feel most at home as an Independent, and every day that I spend talking with Mainers reinforces my belief that only a truly independent Governor can turn our state around.

As I travel our state, I hear one conviction repeated over and over and again: The same partisan politics that got us into this mess will never get us out of it. I am convinced that real change will only come if Maine has a leader who can move beyond the tired rivalries that have left our major parties beholden to narrow interest groups and starved for new ideas.

Maine people are tired of slogans and empty promises. They are looking for a leader who has a strategy – and the experience and skills to back it up with action. No other candidate in this race can match my experience or my record of accomplishment.

3. How are you going to win?

I am going to win by being totally honest with the people of Maine about our challenges, by working hard, and by putting forth the best plan to get Maine working again.  Our campaign will be fully competitive with the campaigns for the nominees of the political parties.

Most Maine people – whether they are enrolled as a Democrat or Republican or not enrolled in any party — are very independent voters. Maine voters are legendary for their independence and ticket-splitting.

As an Independent candidate, I don’t have to worry about party bosses or catering to the extreme Left or the far Right. I don’t have to placate any special interest groups. I can honestly say to the hardworking voters and taxpayers of Maine… I will work for you.  I will be your governor.

Let’s not forget that two out of the last five governors in Maine have been independents — the late Gov. Longley and Gov. King. Both remain very popular former governors.

4. How are you going to govern effectively with a Legislature largely made up of Democrats and Republicans?

The same way I have worked successfully with people all my life – around Maine, around the country and around the world.  By not sugarcoating, by honestly presenting the choices we face, by demonstrating real independence and a willingness to make the tough decisions.

I will be elected as an Independent. I will govern independently. I will make appointments independently, and I will make decisions based solely on what is in the best interest of Maine people.

I will work day and night all across the State of Maine to build a consensus around the new directions that we need to take in Maine.

5. Are you from Maine?

I was born and raised in Bangor. My family has lived in Maine for 130 years, since the 1880s.  Dad was from Old Town, and my mother was from Bangor.

My grandfather, my mother’s father, came to America at the age of 12 – alone, with no family and unable to speak English. He began his life in America as a peddler, walking between Bangor and Calais and selling notions, needles and thread to homes along what is now Route 9, the “Airline.”  He later married, and all three of his daughters graduated from college. His children and grandchildren have achieved things that he only could dream of, and any success I have achieved is due in large measure to the values that my parents learned from theirs and then passed along to me and to my brothers.

6. Didn’t you live and work outside of Maine for many years? What were you doing?

I went to work for Senator Muskie while I was in college and remained on his staff for more than six years.  He was my mentor.  When I was working for Ed Muskie, I was working for Maine every day – both on state matters and helping to write the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and other laws important to Maine.

I attended law school while I was working for Senator Muskie, which is where I met my wife, Melanie. We planned to return to Maine after we finished law school. But Melanie (along with several other women lawyers) wasn’t offered a job by any of the Portland law firms. This was in 1974, and the Portland firms weren’t very interested in hiring women lawyers . . . especially if her husband also was a lawyer.  So we took jobs in New York.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed me to serve as Associate Director of the Office of Management and Budget.  I was the top White House official in the energy, environment and natural resources areas, once again working for Maine by engineering the first big government investments in clean energy technologies and beefing up the enforcement of our environmental laws.  At the President’s request, I helped negotiate a settlement to the Maine Indian Land Claims case.

I went on to build the leading national law firm that specialized in environmental and land use law and major infrastructure projects. I worked for the public’s interest helping states, counties and cities – on major projects like airports, highways, and waste cleanups – make public investments that created jobs.

I also started several successful businesses and served on the boards of directors of several public and private corporations.

7. When did you return to Maine?

I’ve always been a Mainer, whether I’ve lived here or not, and, like most Mainers who leave to find work elsewhere, I yearned for the day when I could return home for good.  That opportunity finally came in 1999, when Melanie, by now a medical doctor, got a job at Maine Medical Center and I was about to merge my law firm into a larger, international firm that would permit me to live in Maine where I wanted to live.

I was a legal resident of Maine and paid Maine income tax through 1973, and I started paying Maine income taxes again in 2000 after I returned home.  I have paid property taxes in Maine since 1992.

8. But didn’t you also live in China for a while after you came back to Maine?

In 2006 my new law firm asked me to organize and open the firm’s first office in China.  There were several reasons behind this request: I had started three previous law offices, each of which had become very successful businesses; I had a lot of international experience; I was a senior partner; and I understood politics, which is important in China.

I thought that the opportunity to spend a couple of years in a country with the world’s fastest growing economy was one that no one should pass up, so Melanie and I decided to do it.  I organized the office, hired all of the personnel and developed the business.  The office largely represents Chinese companies investing in the United States and elsewhere outside China.

Living in China gave me a fresh perspective on the world and especially on Maine’s place in it, on what we need to do in Maine to become competitive in the world’s new economic order.

During the time I was living in China, I remained a Maine resident, paying my taxes and returning home eight to ten times a year. In addition, of course, I followed what was going on in Maine every day by reading Maine newspapers and blogs.  And during this period – affected, I am sure, by the growth and confidence that I saw all around me in China – I became more and more worried about Maine, more and more convinced that our state government was broken in fundamental ways.  I promised myself that I would figure out a way, when my China assignment was over, to help Maine change course.

9. You still work for a Washington law firm. Doesn’t that make you a Washington lawyer?

I gave up my partnership in the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld LLP as of December 31, 2009, and from that date forward I will be an employee – a senior counsel – of the firm.

The term “Washington lawyer” usually conjures up images of a high-powered lobbyist using influence to get something for a special interest.  That’s a far cry from what I have done in my career!  Though I lived in Washington, I’ve never been a “Washington lobbyist.”  In fact, I think that I only registered as a lobbyist once, for one client.

At Cutler & Stanfield, LLP, I built one of the largest environmental and land use law firms in the country, with offices in Washington and Denver. (That firm merged with the Akin Gump firm in 2000.)   Our clients were mostly states, counties, cities and citizens’ groups, and my work took me all over the United States and to foreign countries, as well.

Because we were usually hired to work on big investment and public works projects, I spent a lot of time in local politics.  For every hour I spent in court or in public hearings, I probably spent 10 hours out in the community, meeting with local leaders and citizens groups, working to build consensus and help local communities create jobs.

10. You live in a big house in Cape Elizabeth. How can you understand the rest of Maine?

I do live in Cape Elizabeth. Melanie and I built our house to be a place where a large and extended family could gather for generations, and as an investment in Maine.

I understand “the rest of Maine” because I grew up in “the rest of Maine.” I was born and raised in Bangor. My family has lived in Maine for 130 years.

My mother and father were the children of immigrants who came to this country – to Bangor and Old Town – in search of freedom and a better life. Like my parents and my grandparents, I have worked hard all my life, and, like them, I have given back to Maine in kind and in measure that reflects an unyielding and long-standing commitment to the public good.

I worked all the way through college and law school, and I have been a successful businessman, entrepreneur and lawyer.  My success comes from businesses that I have started and worked hard at making successful.  That success allowed us to choose one of Maine’s countless beautiful spots to live.

11. What gives you the management ability and experience to lead the state at this very difficult time?

Government exists to serve people, to do the things, as Lincoln said, that they cannot do “for themselves in their separate, and individual capacities.”

I learned about public service from my parents, who devoted themselves to community and state service in Bangor and in Maine all of their lives. I learned about legislating and the art of politics from working with Sen. Muskie, helping to craft the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.

I learned about establishing priorities and making tough decisions as Associate Director of the Office of Management Budget, where I was responsible for overseeing the programs and policies and the billions of taxpayer dollars being spent at the Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency.

I am the only candidate in this race who has zeroed out government programs that weren’t working, reshaped programs and forced changes in government policies at this level.

I learned about starting businesses, meeting payrolls, and the importance of customer service as I built three successful law firm offices and served on the boards of public and private corporations – big and small, for profit companies and not for profit organizations.  And I learned about building consensus through forging agreements all over America on big infrastructure projects that were typically very complex and highly contentious.

These experiences qualify me to manage the largest enterprise in Maine – state government – as well or better than any other candidate in the race.  But beyond these qualifications, I am the only candidate who will manage independently.  And that is something that Maine voters want and need.

12. What kind of business experience do you have?

A law firm, just like any professional services firm, is a business, and I have built and managed three successful law offices.  In 1988, my partner Jeff Stanfield and I left the firm where we worked and walked down the street to start our own firm. Like any owners of a new business, we suddenly were responsible for the rent, for making payroll and for generating revenues. Through a lot of hard work, we grew our firm into the second largest environmental and land use firm in the country, and eventually merged it into a much larger firm, Akin Gump.

But I have done more than that.

I was part of a small group that in 1988 bought the United Electric Co., a Texas manufacturer of air conditioning components.  I served on the board of directors for many years, until we sold the company to a much larger firm.

I was a business advisor and lawyer for Skanska USA, the American subsidiary of one of the world’s largest construction companies, as the U.S. business was built from an annual turnover of about $30 million in 1980 to more than $3 billion in 1995.  I later became the first American (and only the second non-Swede) on the board of directors of the parent company Skanska AB, where I served for four years.

And I helped to finance and to create the first of the Thornburg Investment Company mutual funds in 1981.  I maintained a financial interest in the management of the funds for about 15 years, and I have served on the board of trustees of the Thornburg mutual funds for 28 years.

Everything I have achieved in business has come from working very hard and from understanding the importance of competitive advantage and investing in – in my case in a particular law firm specialty, environmental and land use law related to major infrastructure projects, that was in high demand around the country and that my colleagues and I could provide better than anyone else. And I succeeded from intelligent investing and from risk-taking as an entrepreneur and businessman

13. What about your family — your wife and kids?

My wife Melanie is originally from Minneapolis, MN, where she claims Paul Bunyan was born and is even colder than Maine!  We met in law school.  Melanie was an antitrust lawyer for many years and a high-ranking official in the U.S. Department of Justice . . . before abandoning law practice to become a doctor.  She started medical school at George Washington University when she was 45, and she now is a psychiatrist who focuses on treating children and adolescents.

Abby, 29, is a graduate of Brown University and a first-year medical student at the University of Chicago.  She hopes to become a primary care physician.  Zack is 26, a graduate of Amherst College and a certified personal trainer in Portland.  He intends to start graduate school next year.  And Katherine, 22, became a member of our family about five years ago.  She is finishing her last year at McGill University in Montreal and hopes to pursue a graduate degree in chemistry.

14. Where did you go to school?

I attended Bangor public schools until the 10th grade, when my parents sent me to Deerfield Academy to finish high school. I graduated from Harvard College and earned my law degree from Georgetown University.