Ethan Strimling Reaching out to Maine

This is my first post on this blog. I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you, to share the reasons why I am running in June's Democratic Primary to represent Maine's 1st Congressional District, and most importantly, to begin a dialog with you about how we can together change the direction of this country.

I want to do on the internet what I have already been doing in person all around the First District- talking and listening to people. The internet not only affords an opportunity for more two-way communication between politicians and their constituents, but demands it. As a Senator in the Maine legislature, I have always seen myself as the facilitator of a collaborative effort between me and my constituents. On the internet, I can reach out and collaborate with more people than ever before. I hope you'll join me.

So now let me tell you about why I am running for Congress, and then I hope to hear from you about what you think we need to do, and about how we can do it.

In the months before I announced my candidacy, I traveled to towns all over Maine attending over 70 house parties in 70 different towns, and talked with hundreds of people. I did more than just say “hello” and shake their hands during a photo op. I sat in their living rooms and their kitchens, and one-on-one I heard their stories. The experience changed me.

Before doing that, I already knew what we all know: that most people aren't being listened to; that the middle class has been neglected and forgotten by Washington; that average wage earners are being hammered while the richest Americans and corporations are given extraordinary tax breaks; that the nation is pouring billions into the Iraq War, raising the income tax burden on the middle class and siphoning precious dollars from better wages, better health care, cheaper alternative energy, and college loan programs.

I knew those things, but talking with hundreds of people, and hearing from people from all walks of life, gave me a deeper understanding. Over and over I heard from Maine people who are struggling just to get by.

In Shapleigh, I talked with a retiree who had to go back to work because everything from taxes to health care are far more expensive than he had carefully planned for. In Saco, I met a man whose kidney cancer is now terminal; it was detected too late because he did not have health insurance in his hourly job and hadn't been able to afford physicals. I heard from a Portland couple who are struggling to pay a second mortgage on their house because their two boys are both in college.

I am running for Congress because I know it is wrong that the people I met and so many others just like them here in Maine are struggling just to get by. But I also know that it doesn't have to be this way. These struggles are the direct consequences of bad choices made by the leaders of our elected government who aren't listening to the same people I'm listening to.

I have always made fighting for the pocket books of Maine families my top priority. For the past three years, I have been the Senate Chair of the Labor Committee. During that time I have led efforts to raise the minimum wage, expand unemployment benefits for laid off Mainers, and provide for workers who are injured on the job. I have fought to provide health care for Fire Fighters, enhance retirement for mental health and correctional workers, and stood up to General Dynamics when they wanted to outsource union jobs.

So with your help, and with you behind me, I will go to Congress and I will fight every day to make taxes fairer, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, bring our troops home, and increase wages and benefits for working families.

I hope I can earn your support and that you will take some time to ask me questions, to learn more about me, and also to tell me your stories and ideas so that I can learn more about you. If you visit my website, you can learn more about my experience in the Maine Legislature, where I have served since 2002, and about my ten-plus years as executive director at Portland West, a nonprofit that helps at-risk and lower income children and families. You can also learn about my positions on other issues. I look forward to your feedback and comments on those as well.

Finally, I am proud and honored to count among my strongest supporters hundreds of workers and organizers from around Maine, including these Union members:

CJ Betit, Southern Maine Labor Council

John Bogart, American Postal Worker's Union Doug Born, International Alliance for Theatrical Stage Employees, Local 114 Sal Crisci, Maine State Employees Association - Service Employees International Union George Lawson, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Jim MacAdam, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Thomas MacLean, Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 714 Zack Matthews, Business Agent AFSCME Council 93 Winston McGill, International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 740 David Paul, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 2327 Doris and Wayne Poland, American Postal Workers Union, Local 458 Stephen Quinlan, American Postal Workers Union, Local 458 Leo Todd, Maine Education Association

(Please note: Unions listed for identification purposes only)

Send me your name, occupation, town, and union affiliation, and I will add you to a list of Labor supporters that will be on our web site. Send it to labor@ethan08.com.

Editorial Comment:

The following questions are representative of the questions that have been emailed to this site. Other questions can be found in the comments on the post. Other candidates may choose to post and other candidates have been invited. Mr. Strimling received the first invitation and was ready to take questions and state what he believes in.
No candidate can provide specifics completely until they have gained the office and the information that a member of Congress has access to. But this candidate is willing to tell us what his goals are. What he believes is important to us. How he achieves them will be up to how much of a majority the electorate gives to candidates who support the same ideals.

1. Social Security Offset
State employees that have contributed to the Social Security system are punished by the Social Security offset. As a member of congress, will you work to repeal this unjust law? What will you do?

2. Describe what you would do to improve the Department of Labor and how you would make it friendlier to labor.

Will you support a card check law on the Federal level?

Support and Enforce prevailing wage across the country?

3. Unions believe in the right of workers to organize and to bargain collectively.

Will you work with Unions to extend and return collective bargaining rights to Federal workers that have been denied bargaining rights?

4. What are other major issues upon which your campaign is based?

5. What is your position on the war in Iraq and how soon it can be ended?

6. On the second amendment, do you believe your views are consistent with the majority of Mainers?

Do you believe the second amendment is an individual right or a collective right?

Do you see the need for more gun laws or do you believe we should enforce the laws we have?

7. Would you vote to allow undocumented workers to collect Social Security?

8. What is your position on Bush tax cuts?

9. What role does the Federal Government have in helping to alleviate the health care crisis in this country?

10. What do Mainers need to know about you that will help us to decide how to vote?

Editorial addition: A friend of mine sent the following question but as I have not yet gotten permission to use a name I have removed personally identifying information.

I have some questions for Mr. Strimling.
What does he think about the health care crisis in this country? It is not only the fact that health insurance is very expensive and for many folks unattainable, but it is also the runaway costs of getting sick! Simple tests like mammograms are now almost $200 when not that long ago the cost was about $75.

What does he think about cutting Medicare benefits that cover the cost of home health care for our elders? This is a program that pays for the health services an elder receives in their home. Like having a nurse go into the home to do a rountine check up or having a physical therapist go into the home to do some physical therapy to help keep the person mobile.
Is it better to put these people in a nursing home where those costs are high, the care is not that great? Not to mention that the elders would rather stay in their own homes and be comfortable. The work I do is not covered under Medicare. Home Care for Maine does not receive any Medicare money. HCM does not employ nurses that go into the home for these types of services. But a lot of the consumers that Home Care for Maine helps do receive these types of services from other agencies like Health Reach.

Is Mr. Strimling aware of PCAs and PSSs and the type of work we do?
I can give him a brief outline.

Please let me now if you'd like a brief outline of what a PCA/PSS does and I'll be glad to send it.



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Mouseland

Mouseland, almost as told by Tommy Douglas in 1944 This is not about Mickey.

Tommy Douglas brought universal health care to Canada, a system that costs less and covers more people than in this country. I have paraphrased his famous “Mouseland” speech because even over sixty years later it is relevant. Mouseland is still relevant because it shows the danger of thinking there has been any change between the Reagan Republicans and the Bush Republicans. We need an alternative. Mr. Douglas was called socialist, communist, a destroyer of the country. It was said over and over that the system could never work.

With logic, not fear he made his points. I wish we had someone like him to speak for us now.

One of his points is that any health care system run by private enterprise will demand profit and the investors will demand ever larger profits. The only way you can increase profit in that type of system is to deny care.

By way of a quick introduction here are some excerpts and condensations from the Wickipedia article on Tommy Douglas.

Here is the Wickipedia article

7th Premier of Saskatchewan 1944 to 1961

Thomas Clement Douglas introduced universal public Medicare to Canada. Kiefer Sutherland is his grandson.

When young, Douglas would have had a leg amputated but for a doctor who agreed to help for free. This incident began Douglas's belief that health care should be free to all. During WWI, his family returned to Glasgow. They came back to Winnipeg in 1919, during labor unrest in time for Douglas to see the police charging strikers with clubs and guns.

The Douglas government pioneered pro Union and Universal health care items, including:

• The creation of Canada's first publicly owned automobile insurance service.
• Legislation that allowed the unionization of the public service.
• A program to offer free hospital care to all citizens—the first in Canada.
• The Saskatchewan Bill of Rights, legislation that broke new ground as it protected both fundamental freedoms and equality rights against abuse not only by government but also on the part of powerful private institutions and persons.

  In Michael Moore’s SiCKO, Tommy Douglas was mentioned by a Canadian golfer who tore his biceps tendon while golfing in America and faced a $24,000 health care bill even with Canada's "out of country" insurance. Instead the Golfer returned to Canada, where all of his surgery and related expenses were free.

Mouseland

Mouseland. Mouseland was a place where all the little mice lived and played, were born and died. And they lived much the same as you and I do.

They even had a Congress. And every four years they had an election. They went to the polls and cast their ballots. Some of them even got a ride to the polls. And got a ride for the next four years afterwards too. Just like you and me. And every time on election day all the little mice used to go to the ballot box and they used to elect a government. A government made up of big, black, cats.

Now if you think it strange that mice should elect a government made up of black cats, you just look at the history of the United States and maybe you'll see that they weren't any stupider than we are.

Now I'm not saying anything against the cats. They were nice, they conducted their government with dignity. They passed good laws--that is, laws that were good for cats. But the laws that were good for cats weren't very good for mice. One of the laws said that mouse holes had to be big enough so a cat could get his paw in. Another law said that mice could only travel at certain speeds--so that a cat could get his breakfast without too much effort.

All the laws were good laws. For cats. But, oh, they were hard on the mice. And life was getting harder and harder. And when the mice couldn't put up with it any more, they decided something had to be done about it. So they went en masse to the polls. They voted the black cats out. They put in the white cats.

Now the white cats had put up a terrific campaign. They said: "All that Mouseland needs is more vision." They said:” The trouble with Mouseland is those round mouseholes we got. If you put us in we'll establish square mouseholes." And they did. And the square mouseholes were twice as big as the round mouseholes, and now the cat could get both his paws in. And life was tougher than ever. And when they couldn't take that anymore, they voted the white cats out and put the black ones in again. Then they went back to the white cats. Then to the black cats. They even tried half black cats and half white cats. And they called that coalition. They even got one government made up of cats with spots on them: they were cats that tried to make a noise like a mouse but ate like a cat.

You see, my friends, the trouble wasn't with the colour of the cat. The trouble was that they were cats. And because they were cats, they naturally looked after cats instead of mice.

Presently there came along one little mouse who had an idea. My friends, watch out for the little fellow with an idea. And he said to the other mice, "Look fellows, why do we keep on electing a government made up of cats? Why don't we elect a government made up of mice?"

What we have been doing has not worked. Medical care is growing progressively more expensive and the only "cures" offered by the administration are to reduce premiums for doctors by preventing them for being sued for mistakes. OOPS! Wrong leg, so sorry. Here is a crutch on the house. The other cure is to claim that health care is socialism. A national health care program would no more be socialism than fire departments, police departments, a national army or any other group where we band together for the greater good. We will be judged not by what we do for ourselves but by what we do for the poorest among us.

Google Tommy Douglas if you want a clip on Youtube, the speech as done by the CBC in a movie about Mr. Douglas' life will make you think it is in 2007 not 1937.

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Turn Maine Blue

E.T.I. 2009

Susan Collins takes money from ex drug dealer. Read about it at Turn Maine Blue

I want to reach out to all sides, Democrats, Republicans, Independents but until the Republicans can grow some courage and admit that George Bush has nearly destroyed this country I will keep voting blue. Visit Turn Maine Blue and get some great writing and news you won't find in other places. Turn Maine Blue covers a wider range of topics of interest to Mainers than you will find here (for now) and you owe it to yourself to check it out.

The Republicans jump on any candidate that has ever received any money from any tainted source proclaiming that they would never take dirty money. You don't even read this in Maine. Is she going to give it back?


E.T.I. 2009

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