Les Fossel served within the Maine Home of Representatives from 2008 to 2012. He lives in Alna.
I’ve been a reasonable my whole life. You would possibly say it’s in my blood. My brother’s godparents had been Dorothy and Prescott Bush (mother and father of President George H.W. Bush and grandparents of President George W. Bush). My father ran Prescott’s U.S. Senate campaigns within the Fifties.
I had the consideration of serving as a delegate to the Maine Republican State Conventions for greater than 40 years and representing my hometown of Alna within the Maine Home of Representatives from 2008 to 2012. Throughout my time within the Legislature, I additionally served because the co-chair of the Reasonable Caucus.
That’s once I first met Shenna Bellows.
You may not suppose a reasonable Republican from rural Lincoln County and an unabashed progressive serving as the chief director of the Maine ACLU would discover a lot widespread floor or be capable of construct a profitable working relationship, however we did.
After I served on the Well being and Human Companies Committee, Bellows introduced particular person privateness considerations and affected person protections to the debates about digital medical data. There have been sturdy opinions on all sides, however she was prepared and unafraid to have interaction in onerous conversations and work for an answer everybody may assist.
I firmly consider Maine’s landmark implementation of digital medical data has saved many lives. And that’s only one instance of Bellows’ work ethic, her sense of responsibility to Maine folks and her civic accountability.
After her time on the ACLU, she was elected to the State Senate, and reelected twice, by a district that voted for Donald Trump. As a state senator, she labored to go equal pay for equal work, paid sick go away and funding for Meals on Wheels to feed our seniors.
As secretary of state, she’s confronted threats and harassment, however nonetheless executed her job. She reduce purple tape and modernized the division, bringing voter registration and on-line appointment scheduling to the Bureau of Motor Automobiles.
She’s not afraid of onerous work and she or he understands the significance of constructing bipartisan coalitions. Possibly that’s her Downeast roots exhibiting. A carpenter’s daughter, she grew up with out electrical energy or operating water till the fifth grade. Her mother and father taught her that if you would like one thing, you have to work for it. No shortcuts and no excuses.
So when she referred to as and requested me to assist her marketing campaign for governor, I mentioned sure.
We don’t agree on all the pieces, and that’s OK, however I do know on the finish of the day Mainers can belief Shenna to face up for us, to work onerous and to work collectively to make Maine higher for all of us.
