BY JOHN RICHARDSON

State House Bureau

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 creating jobs and knows firsthand that it is not up to the government.

“I now employ almost 100 people. I pay taxes and I support the government,” Woods said at a recent debate in Bangor. “I believe I am the only person (in the race) who has created jobs in the past year.”

On his website, Woods says 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.

He has said partisan gridlock in Washington, D.C., 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 also said it is up to voters to become educated and demand better leadership.

Woods is president and CEO of TideSmart Global, a group of six marketing companies based in Falmouth.

Danny Dalton of Brunswick brings a different perspective to the Senate race, focusing more on dysfunction within the military and Department of Homeland Security than economic issues.

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. “The two biggest problems (for the business community) are our deficit and the debt and tax-reform policy.”

Dalton said he favors tax reform, such as a value-added tax, that can 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. “We haven’t addressed the systemic risk that’s still there,” he said.

Dalton, who has served in the Air Force and Army and worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration, 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 US government is too large and holding the nation back from prosperity. American business is being drowned in red tape.”

Dodge is a freelance writer in Harpswell.

John Richardson — 791-6324

jrichardson@pressherald.com