SKOWHEGAN — The chairman of Somerset County commissioners and a longtime Republican Party activist who is a registered nurse will face off Tuesday in the party primary election for District 107 in the state House of Representatives.

Newell Graf, 60, and Anne Amadon, 55, both of Skowhegan, are vying for the seat left vacant by Rep. Jeff McCabe, a Skowhegan Democrat, because of term limits. McCabe is challenging incumbent state Sen. Rodney Whittemore, R-Skowhegan, for his District 3 Senate seat in November.

House District 107 covers all of Skowhegan and the Somerset County Jail in East Madison.

Jobs, the current drug epidemic and welfare reform are on the minds of both candidates as they head to the primaries Tuesday. Graf said he has the experience, having served two terms as a Skowhegan selectman, the last year as chairman, and two years as a county commissioner, where he is the current chairman.

Amadon said, as a registered nurse, she is drawn to helping people get off welfare and to fight “this unbelievable heroin problem that we’re facing.”

The winner of the Republican Party primary Tuesday will face Skowhegan Selectwoman Betty Austin, the Democratic Party candidate for House District 107, in November.

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Graf said he is not a Republican party regular who is beholden to anyone in Augusta.

“I joined the Republican Party because I am conservative in how I view spending and taxpayers’ money,” Graf said. “I’ll work with anybody who wants to put sound legislation out there to move us forward.”

Amadon said she had the drive and compassion to be elected. She is board secretary at her church and has been active with the Skowhegan Republican Committee and the Somerset County Republican Executive Committee.

“I’m running because I feel strongly that I have a lot to offer with my medical experience — just my compassion for the solutions to the problems. I feel that I have a lot to offer,” she said. “I feel I am an honest person, that I am hard working and I have a lot of connections to make things run a whole lot better.”

Graf grew up in Skowhegan, graduating from Skowhegan Area High School in 1974. He is unmarried with two grown children and a grandchild, and he owns an interior remodeling company.

Amadon grew up in Vermont and moved to Skowhegan 32 years ago. She is married to Tim Amadon, who ran unsuccessfully against McCabe in the 2014 House election. They have one grown daughter.

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Graf said he always wanted to serve in the Legislature, and that being a selectman and a county commissioner showed him how the impact of decision-making in the state capital affected people in their home towns.

“Having set multiple municipal and county budgets, I understand the impact of the unfunded mandates, the cuts in revenue sharing and never living up to 55 percent of school funding,” he said.

Graf said his concerns include better-paying jobs, lower taxes and protecting the Second Amendment for gun ownership, while supporting background checks on potential gun buyers. He said fighting the drug epidemic is more than a street issue, and the focus should be more on tougher regulations and oversight on prescription pain killers.

Amadon said when she moved to the area more than three decades ago, there were jobs and flourishing businesses. She said she wants to work to restore jobs and a sense of accomplishment among area residents.

“We need to work on bringing more jobs into the community,” she said. “I think we need to work on welfare reform and getting people to have self-esteem and feel good about themselves by being able to contribute to their own incomes and their own lives.”

Amadon said losing businesses puts a strain on school, municipal and county budgets, while also leading to young people leaving the Skowhegan area to find work.

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Amadon said in a handout that “for too long, special interest groups and lobbyists have controlled the politicians in Augusta to keep our electricity prices in Maine some of the highest in the country.” She said it is time to repeal laws and regulations that keep Maine from being competitive.

As for welfare reform, Graf said that goes hand-in-hand with job growth and job training.

“There are some things being done in Somerset where we’re trying to get people jobs and gradually take away the assistance, weaning them away from assistance and help them get jobs,” he said.

He said working with employers to hire someone who might not have been a viable candidate for a job in the past would go a long way to solving some of the problems. Graf said, if elected, he will try to get on the Criminal Justice Committee to help level the playing field on state funding for county jails. He said state funding for jails is still about $4 million short of what’s needed.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

Twitter:@Doug_Harlow


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