Here is a look at where Maine’s three lesser-known U.S. Senate candidates stand on the issues of jobs and the economy. All three are independents.
Steve Woods of Yarmouth has said he is better able to address economic issues because he has more experience than the other candidates at creating jobs, and knows firsthand that it is not up to the government.
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“I now employ almost 100 people, I pay taxes and I support the government,” Woods said at a recent debate in Bangor.
Woods believes the government’s role should be to reduce or remove burdens such as taxes, unnecessary regulation and ineffective bureaucracy, and establish policies on trade, energy and labor that stimulate growth, according to his campaign website.
He has said that partisan gridlock in Washington is hurting the economy. “Our country’s lower credit rating, dismal consumer confidence and stagnant economy are all byproducts of partisan gridlock,” he told the Portland Press Herald.
Woods is president and CEO of TideSmart Global, a group of six marketing companies based in Falmouth.
Danny Dalton of Brunswick has focused his Senate campaign on dysfunction within the military and agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration.
However, Dalton said, eliminating waste in federal agencies would reduce the federal deficit and help the economy. “We’re wasting billions and billions of dollars in all these agencies I worked for,” Dalton has said.
Dalton said he favors tax reform – he would replace the corporate income tax with a value-added tax, for example – to encourage businesses to bring jobs back to the United States rather than encouraging them to move jobs offshore.
Dalton said Wall Street needs more regulation to prevent another financial meltdown.
Dalton, who has served in the Air Force and Army and worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration and the state and defense departments, owns a retail shop in Bath.
Andrew Ian Dodge of Harpswell is a libertarian who says that too much government involvement is holding back the economy.
“I believe excessive taxation and regulation are killing our economy,” Dodge says on his campaign website.
“The stimuli and bailouts were colossal failures. We must allow companies of any size to go bust and work their way through the bankruptcy system. We need to reduce taxes on all Americans and businesses of whatever size they are. The U.S. government is too large and holding the nation back from prosperity. American business is being drowned in red tape,” he says.
Dodge is a freelance writer in Harpswell.
Staff Writer John Richardson can be contacted at 791-6324 or at:
jrichardson@pressherald.com
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