We’ve got questions. Do they have answers?

It’s crunch time.  Less than 30 days remain until we head to the polls to vote for President down to School Board—unless you’re joining Maine’s growing absentee voting movement (click here to request your absentee ballot online).

It’s tough to escape the onslaught of campaign activity: glossy mailers, fundraising letters, TV ads, YouTube videos, press releases, Main Street walks, door knocks, phone banks, literature drops, sign campaigns, media interviews, radio ads, bulk e-mails, house parties, debates, voter IDs, polls, and, of course, spin, message discipline and damage control.  Are you jaded yet?

Campaigns are notoriously absent of substance.  Candidates from both parties rely on highly scripted talking points to deliver messages of tax cuts, universal healthcare, gun rights, social justice; whatever the polls reveal is the topic of the hour.  As voters, we support candidates best prepared to handle issues important to us.  Unfortunately, there isn’t enough time to put the pieces of a campaign puzzle together to learn how our candidates will address those issues.  Sometimes, there isn’t even time to figure out just what questions to ask.  

The best way to decide how you feel about your candidates is to speak with them directly.  Ask the tough questions that force them off their talking points.  Make them give you firm answers.  

This is tough for top-of-the-ticket races.  I have a few questions for Barack Obama, but I would be on hold quite a while before I got him on the line (November 5, maybe?).  But State Senate and State House candidates are extremely accessible.  A list of candidates, most with contact information, is available on the Project Vote Smart website.

Give your legislative candidates a call to learn where they stand.  To help, I have provided a list of specific questions based on some important Maine issues.  There’s a little something for everybody, so take a look, call your candidates and get some answers.  Feel free to post their answers in the comment section below.

Government Accountability
Do your candidates support or oppose:
-Cutting funding for the Government Oversight Agency that was established to protect taxpayers from fraud and waste in government?  
-Greater disclosure of income sources for elected officials and their spouses?  
-Strengthening Maine’s Freedom of Access laws to improve access to public information?
-Prohibiting legislative-appointed Constitutional officials like the Secretary of State and State Treasurer from endorsing candidates?

Taxes
Do your candidates support or oppose:
-The $70 million tax increase on health insurance claims and beverages to fund Dirigo Health?  
-Reducing Maine’s twelfth-highest-in-the-nation individual income tax?
-Voter approval of all tax increases at the state level?
-Authorizing a local-option sales tax to reduce property taxes?

Energy
Do your candidates support or oppose:
-Individual tax credits to offset the cost of making homes and business more energy efficient?
-Using state funds to invest in Maine’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)?
-Repealing the automatic annual gas tax increase?
-Implementing a 4-day work week for state employees?
 
Health Care
Do your candidates support or oppose:
-Universal, government-run health care similar to the model used in Canada?
-Allowing Mainers to purchase private health insurance plans available in other states?  
-Tightening eligibility requirements to receive Medicaid coverage?
-Legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes?

Education
Do your candidates support or oppose:
-Governor Baldacci’s school consolidation plan?
-Better assessments of student performance in the classroom?
-Implementing performance-based pay for Maine teachers?
-Increasing state funding of local education?

Social
Do your candidates support or oppose:
-Permitting gay marriages in Maine?
-Publicly funded abortions?
-Lengthening waiting periods for purchasing firearms?
-Building casinos in Maine?