The two candidates running for House of Representatives in District 79 disagree about whether the state should expand Medicaid allow ingMaineCare to extend health care to additional low-income residents.

Democrat Cristina Lewis Evers and Republican Timothy S. Theriault, both of China, are vying for the seat being vacated by H. David Cotta, a Republican, who is ineligible because of term limits. The District formerly was House District 55, but was changed to 79 as part of redistricting.

House District 79 comprises Albion, Benton, China and Unity Plantation.

Evers, a sales agent with Adams Realty and former vice president and trust officer for KeyBank for 37 years, says she believes everyone deserves adequate health care, regardless of their financial situation. She believes expanding Medicaid would help create jobs.

“Maine has one of the oldest populations in the country, so keeping our citizens healthy should be a priority,” she said.

But Theriault, chief of the China Village Fire Department, a retired millwright-welder for SAPPI paper and owner of Cedar Springs Golf Course in Albion, opposes expanding Medicaid.

“At this time, we can not afford expansion,” Theriault said. “The state needs to be fiscally responsible.”

A member of the China Budget Committee, Theriault says he is running for House District 79 because he cares deeply for the state of Maine and wants to help create jobs among other things.

“I have been actively involved in town committees and local fire service for the past 25 years,” he said. “I have five children, four of which live out of state because the employment opportunities don’t exist here. I would like to help create those opportunities.”

Evers, who serves on several boards and committees including United Way of Kennebec Valley, says she believes her previous experience as a bank financial officer with a strong fiduciary background gives her the ability to be a productive member of the state Legislature using a common sense approach.

“I feel I have a unique set of skills that can be fully utilized within the House of Representatives,” she said.

Evers said that she always has been interested in charitable, nonprofit organizations and as a trust officer was responsible for a number of scholarship and charitable trusts, which whetted her appetite for working to better Maine and its communities.

“My work with the United Way and the Augusta Food Bank in particular gives me great satisfaction by using skills I have learned to serve those in need,” she said.

Theriault points to his experience on the China Budget Committee when discussing his accomplishments, saying he helped keep the municipal budget down.

As president of the local fire department, he also helped make several improvements to the department without increasing the budget.

Both Theriault and Evers say they think the need for jobs is a major campaign issue in their district and they want to help create jobs.

“Since 80 percent of jobs in Maine are with small business, we should concentrate on assisting small businesses as much as possible,” Theriault said.

Evers adds that Maine is 47th in the nation economically, and the state needs to explore why and identify what steps need to be taken to improve.

“We need to put people back to work at living wages and keep those working that have jobs,” she said.

Like Theriault, Evers says Maine must focus on education so that young people want to live and work in Maine rather than move out of state.

“As a legislator, I want to place focus on reviewing programs that are not functioning properly and may be archaic, including our social services system, and replacing them with programs that will work and are in line with the problems Maine is facing as we try to move forward,” Evers said.

Both candidates oppose increasing the state sales tax to provide more funding for local communities. They say there are other ways to save money.

“I am not in favor of increasing taxes,” Theriault said. “We could save by welfare reform and undocumented people receiving benefits.”

Evers said pushing taxes back to the municipal level makes it hard for Mainers to stay in their homes or buy new ones because of rising property taxes; increasing taxes at the state level also burdens taxpayers and businesses.

“I would like to see less tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations so they are paying their fair share along with the middle class and small businesses,” she said.

Both said they will vote “no” on the referendum asking if Maine should ban bear baiting. Both said they oppose state reimbursement to local communities for welfare payments made to undocumented immigrants.

“I feel our monies should go to qualified citizens of the state of Maine,” Theriault said.

Evers concurs.

“We need to find out how these benefits got paid in the first place and then formulate a realistic way to solve the problem with input from both sides of the aisle,” she said.

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @AmyCalder17