NEIGHBOR AT THE DOOR

An unexpected surprise occurred this afternoon when a friend quickly dropped by to leave some information at my door. I know this person from Clifton. He was a delegate to the Regional Planning Committee for the school district and a regular citizen attendee at the Clifton Selectmen's meetings. He's regularly at SAD 63 school board meetings. And he was at the "Meet and Greet" Republican candidate Dave Johnson held at Comins Hall before the primaries earlier this year. But I've never had the pleasure of opening my door to see this individual at my door before today.

Fred was out and about, in not the best of weather (certainly not nearly as bad as Friday's) with another supporter of Dave Johnson distributing information for and about Dave. They were driving and going door-to-door in Eddington. Aside from the fact that the incumbent, Ben Pratt, lives right here in Eddington, I have never received any information from Ben other than a party-produced postcard in my mailbox - certainly no one coming to my door.

Aside from seeing Ben at the annual Town Meeting or back when there used to be the summer town picnic, I have never seen or heard anything from Ben about his positions regarding anything in August. Certainly no responses to any emails sent to him or phone messages left.

But the information left today was certainly enlightening about Ben's voting record and Dave's positions. The following was very interesting:

LD 1495: Enactment of 102 new taxes including tax on labor, movies, and increased meals & lodging tax. Ben Pratt voted YES on LD 1088, the predecessor of LD 1495 and was ABSENT for the vote on LD 1495 (Roll Call #199) but is reported to have Supported the Bill. Dave Johnson Opposed the Bill.

LD 290: Legislation to allow Maine citizens to buy health insurance across state lines. (Roll Call #71). Ben Pratt Voted NO. Dave Johnson Favors the proposal.

LD 254: Welfare Reform - This Bill enacts a 5-point welfare reform package, including requiring a 90-day residency for welfare recipients. Ben Pratt Voted NO (Roll Call #177). Dave Johnson Favors the reform package.

LD 333: Legislation raising the gasoline tax by 10 cents (included in the highway budget). Ben Pratt Voted YES (Roll Call #219). Dave Johnson is Opposed.

If you want to ask Dave questions or contact him, he puts his contact information on all of his fliers:

Tel.# (207) 843-6929; email:djhouse@gmail.com; FacebookDJHOUSE20

For those voters in Maine District 20 (Bradley,Clifton,Dedham,Eddington,Holden and part of Brewer), this writer asks you to consider when the last time was you actually experienced any direct interest shown in your interests and concerns by our current representative in the Maine House of Representatives, Ben Pratt. Ben is a nice person but has he shown any genuine interest or knowledge in what his constituents want done in Augusta? Isn't that his job?

Maybe you should think seriously about supporting Dave Johnson in the voting booth on November 2 and send him as your representative to Augusta this time around.
Maine needs to be more business-friendly if it's to get out of the fiscal mess it's in.

It's time to send a business person to Augusta to work on the problem.

The person for District 20 is Dave Johnson.