State Rep. Colleen Madigan, a Democrat representing House District 110 in the House of Representatives, faces opposition in November from Mark Andre of Oakland, an unenrolled candidate who ran unsuccessfully against her as a Republican in both 2016 and 2018.

Madigan, who served one term as a state senator representing District 25 (now District 16) in 2012, said she is running for reelection to House District 110 because affordable health care, tax fairness and strong public schools remain a priority for voters in her district.

“In addition, I have been working on reforms in our child welfare system and mental health services,” Madigan said. ” Working with local youth formerly in foster care, foster parents and child protection workers, I was able to pass a bill that sets caseload standards so children involved with DHHS (state Department of Health and Human Services) can be more safe.

“I have also worked on bills to improve access to evidence-based behavioral health treatment for children, adults and families. There is still more work to do on these issues,” she said. “There are opportunities to pursue further federal funding.”

Andre said he is running for House District 110 because he wants to help improve the lives of people in Waterville and Oakland.

“The goal of my candidacy is the same as it has always been, to represent the interests of Waterville and Oakland residents with the goal of making Maine life more affordable — taxes, healthcare, energy costs, etc.,” Andre said. “My loyalty is to our community, and I will not be influenced by national political agendas, which is why I am running as an Unenrolled Clean Election candidate.”

Asked what their top legislative priorities are, Madigan said hers include helping the state and area recover from the economics of the pandemic, helping vulnerable populations such as the elderly, children and people with health and mental health struggles, and helping education funding and strategies.

“This means advocating for full revenue sharing to help our towns and homeowners,” she said. “It also means working with our federal delegation to maximize help for our towns and citizens. The upcoming budget negotiations will be difficult due to the economy, but we need to make sure that homeowners, our small businesses, the elderly, at-risk children and people who have physical or mental health issues do not suffer more.

“I would also add that mental health services are more needed now due to unemployment, financial stresses and isolation. It is crucial that we make sure these services are available to those that need them.”

Madigan said she plans to introduce legislation to fully restore revenue sharing, improve access to vital mental health services and protect elderly people and at-risk children. She also plans to continue her push for both affordable housing and addressing racial disparities in health care.

Andre said a top priority for him is property tax fairness.

“In 2019, Colby College’s total value was $148,120,300 and they paid $136,721 in property taxes to the city of Waterville, for an equivalent tax mill rate of 0.92,” Andre said. “Waterville residents paid a tax mil rate of $25.76, a rate 28 times higher than Waterville’s wealthiest institution. This subsidy paid to Colby College by Waterville residents is as unfair as it is unsustainable. This problem exists in other communities that host colleges and large NFPs — not for profits — such as Orono and Lewiston.”

Andre last year helped to launch a challenge to dispute the eligibility of 75 Colby students and faculty to vote in Waterville.

To specifically address his priorities regarding taxes, Andre said he intends to “build a coalition with representatives from these other communities and push for the following legislative action: one, initiate an audit of large NFPs (defined by top executive compensation rates) to determine full compliance with Maine’s tax laws and sponsor legislation to remove property tax exemptions for large NFPs (defined by top executive compensation rates); and two, build a coalition with representatives from those other communities and push for legislative action.”

Asked what other regional or state issues concern the candidates, Madigan said that when she speaks with voters, particularly young voters, they raise issues including climate change and systemic racism.

“We already know that here in Maine there are racial disparities in COVID-19 cases and other health issues,” she said. “We need to do better in addressing these. We did some work on racial disparities in health last session and I plan to continue to address this.

“We also must not lose sight of the national moment we are in and we must address racism. That means looking at our criminal justice system, education, health care systems. As for climate change, we are already seeing the impact in Maine with the increase in Lyme disease, increased mortality of moose calves due to ticks, increased flooding in coastal areas and in our fisheries. We need to invest in clean energy more and reduce greenhouse emissions in Maine.”

Asked if there are any other regional or state issues that concern him, Andre cited the need for “the immediate and safe reopening of our state” and “cleaning up the state budget mess created by the shutdown without raising taxes.”

“The current legislature increased state spending by 11%,” Andre said. “Those increases should immediately be rolled back to balance the state budget.”

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