HOUSE DISTRICT 27
Name: Kyle R. Bailey
Address: 114 Johnson Road, Gorham
Education: Master’s in Public Policy, Planning and Management, University of Southern Maine (2019); Bachelor’s in Political Science, University of Georgia (2005)
Employment: President and CEO of Peachtree Strategies LLC, a project management consulting firm based in Gorham. During my 15 year career, I have managed budgets of up to $2 million and teams of up to 40 employees. Past job titles: Campaign Manager, Chief Operations Officer, Finance Director and Community Relations Manager.
Political and community experience: Served as an elected member of the Gorham School Committee for three years; on the leadership team that won and protected the freedom to marry for same-sex couples; as campaign manager for the legislative, referendum and legal initiatives that won, protected and expanded ranked-choice voting to give more voice to voters; member of the Gorham Business Exchange.
What do you see as the major issues affecting our community and how might they be addressed? During these difficult times, you deserve to be represented in the Maine House by a thoughtful, compassionate and steady leader who listens and will be a strong voice for Gorham.
Improving lives, building community and creating a more vibrant democracy have been my life’s work. I am an entrepreneur, civic leader and former Gorham School Committee member with a proven record of working across the political spectrum, taking on tough issues and solving complex problems.
Growing up in a family of Methodists and military veterans, I was raised to value service. My father was a Marine, educator, lawyer and judge. My mother worked for her family’s electrical contracting business and was a leader in our church community and town. When I was three, my father died of leukemia. My mother and grandmother encouraged me to embrace his commitments to justice and fairness, and instilled in me the values of integrity, empathy, conviction, hard work, and perseverance.
Among the issues that concern Gorham voters are: the health and well-being of their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic; the long-term economic impact of the pandemic on their families and local businesses; the skyrocketing costs of healthcare and prescription drugs; property taxes, school crowding, road traffic, childcare costs, housing availability and affordability, and internet connectivity and reliability; the lack of transitional support for people in recovery; and, the need to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change.
These are all important issues that require difficult conversations, hard choices and real solutions. This is a time for principled and pragmatic leaders who will put partisanship aside, work collaboratively, think differently and act boldly. I believe that I am that leader, and I ask for your vote. Thank you for your consideration. Please contact me at (207) 939-8600 or kyle@baileyformaine.com to share your concerns or ask questions.
Name: Roger E. Densmore III
Address: 185 Barstow Road, Gorham
Education: Southern Connecticut State University and Husson University
Personal Info: I have lived in Gorham for a little over five years with my girlfriend Karla and our three rescued four-legged fur babies, Fenway (an almost four-year-old black lab), Gillette (a three-and-a-half-year-old Retriever), and Bruin (one-and-a-half-year-old boxer/terrier).
Employment: For the last six years I have been the Business Manager at Camp Sunshine in Casco changing the lives of children with life threatening illnesses and their families through the various stages of the child’s illness. Prior to that, I enjoyed a 16-year career in the golf industry as a General Manager and Golf Professional. I previously owned and operated a small business in Maine for almost nine years.
Political and community experience: This is my second time running for the State Representative seat in District 27.
What do you see as the major issues for our community and how might they be addressed? The major issue, as I see it, is finding a way to repair the financial havoc COVID-19 has caused to the state and local economies. The Maine Legislature has done nothing for over six months to help out the state while leaving the governor unchecked in her decision making. We need to find ways to increase commercial and retail businesses not only in Gorham but across the state. Far too many businesses have closed, and too many people are still out of work due to restrictions implemented from Augusta, which will continue to add to the decline in the state’s revenue. These issues will be especially important in Gorham to help assist with the property tax liabilities and school funding, while not overloading our already overburdened school systems. Lowering taxes and reduced spending are two of the four major issues I feel need to be addressed in Augusta along with reducing health care costs and fighting the opioid epidemic, which seems to have been forgotten about but is still a real problem in Maine. I will always look to find sensible ways to reduce spending rather than increase taxes on an already overtaxed community/state.
I would also advocate a year-to-year capital budget to fix/properly maintain/upgrade assets rather than kicking the can down the road and having major capital expenditures every five to 10 years. It seems whenever cuts to a budget are needed, the first place looked at is capital expenditures, roads, and infrastructure. Many times, bonds are then needed to fill in the gaps which ends up costing us more in the long run.
STATE SENATE DISTRICT 30
Name: Stacy Fielding Brenner
Address: 388 Broadturn Rd., Scarborough
Education: University of Arizona, Bachelor of Science in Agriculture; University of Pennsylvania, Bachelor of Science in Nursing; Master of Science in Nursing, specialty in Nurse-Midwifery.
Personal Info: I’ve been a farmer for 19 years and a Scarborough resident for 14 years. I currently co-own Broadturn Farm in Scarborough with my husband, John, and work as a nurse. I have two wonderful daughters: the youngest, Flora, attends Scarborough High School and my oldest, Emma, is also a nurse.
Employment: Organic farmer/ small business owner at Broadturn Farm; Registered nurse at Northern Lights Mercy Hospital Birthplace
Political and community experience: I am the Board Vice President of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and also on the board of the Maine Farmland Trust.
What do you see as the major issues affecting our community and how might they be addressed? The foremost issue is how the pandemic has impacted our local economy. Our governor’s response to this crisis has so far kept our case count low, but a weak tourism season has already caused some small businesses to close and puts thousands of others at risk of shutting their doors. My own small business was at a standstill for nearly a month at the beginning of the pandemic; I’ve been forced to make one painful decision after another, like deciding to not run our yearly summer camp at the farm and deciding to not hire on as many workers as we did pre-pandemic. We need everyone from our community at the table to start brainstorming strategies to keep businesses afloat and strengthen local, forgivable grant programs — like the one recently made available to help small businesses in most towns and cities in Cumberland County — to support businesses that have no way to safely operate in the winter.
Secondly, as our small businesses struggle, thousands of workers in our community are struggling as well. We need to support our workers through eviction moratoriums, rental and mortgage assistance, food programs, and improved access to health care. We cannot rebuild our economy if working people in our community are forced out onto the streets during a pandemic.
On top of the pandemic, our climate emergency is making a bad situation even worse. Maine has so far been spared wildfires and powerful hurricanes, but our summers have gotten drier and we are experiencing a historic drought. As a farmer, I’m worried about our local food supply and the future world our children will have to inhabit. We need to treat climate change as the emergency it is and transition our economy to a green economy as soon as possible.
Name: Sara Rivard, DC
Address: 57 Underhill Drive, Gorham
Education: Gray-New Gloucester High School, Gray, Maine, Diploma, 1989; Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts, B.S. in Biology, 1993; Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic, Spartanburg, South Carolina, Doctorate in Chiropractic, 2002
Personal Info: I’m a wife, mother, chiropractor, and native Mainer. I reside in Gorham with my husband Scott and we have six children, with my two teenage boys still at home. I grew up knowing Maine can be a very challenging place to live, something I share in common with many neighbors.
Employment: Chiropractor and Owner, Back On Track Wellness, South Portland (Current); Chiropractor, Mall Road Chiropractic, South Portland; Chiropractor, Farrer Chiropractic, Standish; Co-owner, The Gorham Grind Coffee Shop, Gorham (now closed)
Political and community experience: Currently, I’m a member of the Gorham Republicans Club and my business, Back On Track Wellness, continues to regularly donate to charitable events and causes in Southern Maine via funds and services. In the past, I’ve volunteered at local non-profits including the Animal Refuge League and for school events in Gorham — campaigning now takes up much of my free time!
What do you see as the major issues affecting our community and how might they be addressed? Currently, the issues most affecting our communities are the COVID-19 shutdown and pace of the economic reopening plan, along with Maine’s estimated $1.4 billion budget shortfall.
The COVID-19 shutdown hit Maine particularly hard, decimating many businesses and industries, leaving many without jobs and Maine with the highest unemployment rate in years. I believe business owners and operators, which are our lifeblood, should have had more input into the decisions that impacted their livelihoods. They should also have input into all future decisions to recover our communities. Augusta should bring legislators and business people together to make decisions to move the state forward. Utilizing the resources we have at home, our knowledgeable and industrious people of Maine, to help recover our state gives us an advantage and a greater investment in the state we love.
Additionally, Maine is facing an estimated $1.4 billion budget shortfall in the next three years, and since our shortfall is large, we have to work together to find ways to close that gap without further damaging our economy and leaving our vulnerable behind. Maine also has the fourth highest burden in the nation and when we consider that juxtaposed against the looming budget deficit, it seems impossible to bridge the divide without increasing taxes in some way. But I believe any tax increases will only further burden our elderly, our veterans, and our young families who are trying to build a life here. We need to attract more people to our state, and make living here as viable as it is to visit. I understand that no one “likes” budget cuts, but we have done it before with success. Since the state budget is complex, how and where to make changes would have to be carefully considered before anything is final.
HOUSE DISTRICT 26
Name: Maureen Terry
Address: 9 Lombard Street, Gorham
Education: New York Restaurant School, Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management
Personal Info: In addition to being a mother and wife of an amazing family, I have worked as a chef for nearly 30 years. I have owned two restaurants and a small food production company. I have spent the last 4 years representing not only my town but the thousands of small business owners across the state in my role on the taxation committee at the state house.
Employment: Business owner, Three Daughters Cookie Company; Chef, Carters Green Market
Political and community experience: Two terms in the Maine House of Representatives, Current; Board member, Gorham Village Alliance; Treasurer, Greater Gorham Farmers Market; prior Board Member, Gorham Cooperative Preschool and Gorham Educational Foundation, prior President, Gorham Swim Boosters
What do you see as the major issues affecting our community and how might they be addressed? Our community will continue to find challenges with making our schools fit our growing population. We live in such a great town, it’s no wonder more people than ever want to move here.
The pandemic has rightfully put a hold on the school rebuild projects, but we still need improvements and more space. The tricky part will be funding, of course.
So many of our families are on the tightest of budgets and will be feeling the financial hardships of the pandemic for a long time to come. We will need to spend our resources wisely and save where we can.
We will also need to find ways to support and bolster our town’s small businesses. We have a thriving small business community in Gorham but, again, the pandemic has already taken its toll on a handful and, going into winter, will undoubtedly stretch the limits on many more. In addition to finding solutions in Augusta, we will need to rely on and work with our federal partners to make sure our small businesses not only survive, but find ways to grow.
Maine is in a better financial position than a lot of other states, fortunately, and because of that we will find ways to support our schools and our small businesses without putting additional burdens on our property owners.
Name: George Louis Vercelli
Address: 16 Distant Pines Drive, Gorham
Education: Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from Newark College of Engineering (Now New Jersey Institute of Technology); Master Degree in Sanitary Engineering from New York University
Personal Info: Widower with two sons, one daughter-in-law and one grandson. I have always loved the outdoors. My career as a professional engineer was in improving the quality of our environment with focus on providing cleaner water for drinking and for discharging to rivers, lakes and oceans.
Employment: Retired. I was licensed in six states as a professional engineer. Most of my career was working for professional engineering consulting firms managing the planning, design, construction management and assistance in operations of municipal and industrial water and wastewater treatment facilities. I worked with many local, state and federal government codes, regulations and administrators preparing studies and funding applications to secure Federal money for communities. These projects were complex, requiring approval of many departments and agencies with some large projects having total costs of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Political and community experience: I am a Life Member of the New England Water Environment Association and the Water Environment Federation, have presented at many public meetings, been a member of a town’s Architectural Review Board, a present member of the Gorham Republican Committee and of the Portland Camera Club. In the past, I was involved with my boys in Indian Guides and the Boy Scouts of America.
What do you see as the major issues affecting our community and how might they be addressed? I expect by the time I am in office, the State of Maine should be open again for business, albeit, with some health guidelines still in-place. The impacts from the pandemic and statewide shutdown will be significant and will create the two top issues facing the state over the next few years, they are:
The Economic Impact on the State Debt, Businesses and Families: The state projects the debt to be $1.4 billion over the next 3 years. Efforts need to be focused on rebuilding our community businesses and encouraging new businesses in Maine. A robust business climate will greatly mitigate the state’s debt, provide stability, safety and security for the state’s economy and families. Online purchasing has skyrocketed this year but those goods must be produced somewhere. We need to encourage businesses, especially the clean businesses, to locate in Maine. Also, supporting high speed internet in Maine will increase the ability of Maine’s large and small businesses to be successful.
The Education System. Already two school years have been greatly affected. Students from kindergarten through college have lost much due to the impact on education. Teachers, to their credit, are doing their best to continue to educate their students. The education system will benefit from a robust economy. Funds would be available to enhance the education of the students by focusing on the lessons learned from the present online education. The cost for upgrades to brick & mortar buildings might be reduced by implementing smart online learning or specific grades and classes. Unlike nearly total online learning, which took place in the spring of 2020, I propose working with the state and local educators to implement a phased remote learning approach to elevate Maine’s education system to the top 10 in the Country.