The race for the Maine Senate district representing eleven communities in southern Kennebec County is between an independent political newcomer and two former state legislators with nearly two decades of experience between them.

Independent Gary Quintal, Democrat David Bustin and Republican Earle McCormick are facing off to represent District 14. The district is changed only slightly from the one Sen. Patrick Flood, R-Winthrop, has represented since 2012, when he narrowly defeated Bustin.

Redistricting last year swapped Litchfield for Readfield, but the majority of District 14, formerly District 21, remains the same. It also includes Gardiner, Hallowell, Chelsea, Farmingdale, Manchester, Monmouth, Pittston, Randolph, West Gardiner and Winthrop.

Quintal, 59, the town of Chelsea’s code enforcement officer since 2012, said he’s running because Augusta needs a change, and there are two long-term legislators competing for the seat.

“They can’t get nothing done,” Quintal said of the Legislature and government.

Quintal, of West Gardiner, said he also isn’t supporting a specific candidate for governor. He said all three — Republican Gov. Paul LePage and his two challengers, Democrat Mike Michaud and Independent Eliot Cutler — have good ideas.

“I don’t have a big agenda. I certainly want to work with the governor that gets in and do some good for the common people of the state of Maine,” Quintal said.

McCormick, 71, of West Gardiner, served in the Maine House of Representatives between 2002 and 2006 before being elected to the Senate in 2006. He served until withdrawing from the race in 2012.

“I think many people know who I am just by the virtue of having been up there, and I hope they’re pleased with what I’ve done and give me an opportunity to do it again,” he said.

Since last year, McCormick has served on the West Gardiner Board of Selectmen, a position he plans to keep if elected.

Bustin, 76, of Hallowell, served eight years Maine House of Representatives in the 1970s and served in the administration of former Gov. Joseph Brennan. Bustin, a state mediator, said he would help with the arguing and fighting between legislators and the governor.

“I think I have significant experience both at the state level, where I’ve been not only a legislator but a commissioner in the administration of Joseph Brennan,” and the local level, Bustin said. He’s served both as mayor of Hallowell and on the City Council.

The last time Bustin and McCormick faced each other, in a 2004 race for a Maine House seat representing Hallowell, Farmingdale and West Gardiner, McCormick won with 55 percent of the vote.

Both Quintal and Bustin said they would support accepting federal funds to expand Medicaid in the state, but McCormick said he would not.

McCormick said he thinks the state needs to examine how the Affordable Care Act, the federal health care law passed four years ago, is being implemented before expanding the state’s Medicaid program as part of it.

Quintal said he would be in favor of expanded Medicaid because the state will end up paying for emergency room visits for people without health insurance.

He said the state should examine the options if the federal government isn’t paying for the expansion, “but if you don’t take it and try to develop your own system off of that, then you missed out.”

All three said they would support restoring municipal revenue sharing to what state law requires, 5 percent of the sales and income tax revenue brought in by the state.

To help fund increases to revenue sharing, Quintal said he would favor revising the state’s tax structure to shift more of the burden from property tax to sales tax. He said he would like to see more property tax relief because some people are being forced out of their homes because of high property taxes.

“If you live in a home, you don’t have an option. You have to pay property tax no matter what it is. With sales tax, if you don’t want to buy that new car, you don’t have to,” Quintal said.

Bustin said his top priority is to restore funding to municipalities and schools, which haven’t been funded at the state-required levels in recent years.

“If you put those two things together, it puts tremendous pressure on the local property tax, and that’s going to hurt working people and elderly retired citizens,” Bustin said.

He said he would make sure the funding for communities and school districts is adequate, but he didn’t have specific ideas for ways to find the money.

In order to increase revenue, the Legislature can do things to improve the economy, Bustin said.

One way to do that is to expand Medicaid using federal funds, he said. Bustin cited a study released last year by the liberal-leaning Maine Center for Economic Policy that said using federal funds to expand Medicaid would have added 367 jobs and injected about $32 million into the local economy in Kennebec County.

McCormick also said the answer to providing more revenue for municipalities and schools is to increase the state’s revenue. To do this, it’s necessary to improve the state’s economy, McCormick said.

He said most of his constituents concerns are the result of the economy, but he didn’t suggest specific ways to boost it, other than speaking to people in the business community.

“A lot of them can really be helped just by improving the economy. My focus is I would like to work with the business community to find ways to increase business and create more jobs,” McCormick said.

Paul Koenig — 621-5663

pkoenig@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @paul_koenig

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