FARMINGTON – Selectmen are hoping to hold a special election on Jan. 22 to fill the District 89, which represents the towns of Farmington and Industry, but the Secretary of State’s Office said today that might be overly optimistic.
Meanwhile, two residents have already declared their intentions to run for the District 89 seat which was vacated by Rep. Janet Mills (D – Farmington) after she was elected attorney general by the state Legislature on Dec. 4. Mills won a fourth term in the Nov. 4 elections from republican challenger Keith Mahoney.
Republican Lance Harvell and Dennis Haszko, a democrat, have both announced they intend to run for the seat.
On Tuesday, Farmington selectmen issued a recommendation to hold the special election on Jan. 22 because it coincides with the vote on the Mallett School construction project.
Julie Flynn, deputy secretary of state, said it could taken more than six weeks to hold a special election which would bring it to at least a week after Jan. 22. As of this morning, Flynn said the Governor’s Office hadn’t heard from either Farmington or Industry requesting a special election be held to fill the District 89 seat.
“We’ve received no official communication yet,” Flynn said.
Once official word is received, a proclamation will be drawn up which sets the deadline for nominations. Party candidates are chosen through caucuses and non-party candidates must gather 50 registered voter signatures by the deadline in order to appear on the ballot.
It takes two weeks for the proclamation to be issued and a minimum of four weeks from the nomination deadline to set up a special election, which includes issuing the ballots in time for absentee voting. Further delay may be caused by the holidays coming up, Flynn added.
Whatever the election date, so far two people have said they would like the District 89 job.
Harvell would be a familiar face on the campaign trail, having previously run for the District 89 seat three times against Mills. Two of those races were both close, prompting a recount following the 2004 election.
|
|
Born in Farmington and a graduate of Mt. Blue High School, Harvell served in the U.S. Air Force in the Netherlands prior to returning to the area. He is an employee of the Verso Paper Company, and has taken classes at the University of Maine at Farmington. Harvell has been married to his wife, Bernadette Harvell, who has worked as a speech therapist in MSAD 58 for 22 years. They have two children.
Harvell says that his primary goal, if elected, is to limit state spending. He said that the state had developed unrealistic spending habits in better economic times and now faces a major shortfall.
“If the state is living beyond its means in the good times,” Harvell asked, “what do you do in an economic downturn when you have less money and more needs? The problem is that you didn’t prepare for this.”
Harvell said that the state should focus on education, essential services and infrastructure maintenance above all other concerns. He noted that with an aging population and shrinking tax base, and less and less federal money available each year, the state would need to find a new way to do business.
“One of the greatest things about having no money,” Harvell said, “is that you can tell people ‘no.'”
Meanwhile, Haszko stated that he is interested in seeking the Democratic nomination for the District 89 seat.
|
|
Haszko operates a private patent practice in Augusta. He holds a bachelor degree in electrical engineering and a law degree from the Franklin Pierce Law Center in New Hampshire. Haszko and his family moved back to Maine in 2006 after living in Ontario for six years following the birth of their first son. He and his wife, Ruth Haszko, and their two children now live in Farmington.
Haszko says that he’s interested in the application of “smart governing” where appropriate, and decreasing the amount of intervention when it is not. For instance, he is interested in helping small businesses get up and running.
“We need to help create homegrown businesses and keep them here,” he said, noting that through his patent work he often was able to meet and talk with new small business owners. One possibility, Haszko believes, is to give some of these new businesses tax exemptions for their first few critical years.
“That’s how we make things grow,” he said.
Haszko is also interested in the possibility of infrastructural improvements to the state’s broadband Internet capability and in the development of a “East-West” highway, possibly as a public works project.
“I love Maine,” he said. “I love the quality of life and the people. I love the lakes in the summer and the snow in the winter. But there is another Maine.”
Both Haszko and Harvell say that they intend to run as Clean Elections candidates.
