Patricia Blanchette

For awhile Sen. Joe Perry, D-Bangor, wasn’t sure if he’d run again in November.

There are important issues facing Bangor – Hollywood Slots, school funding and mill closures, just to name a few, Perry said. With three of his colleagues leaving, he realized there had to be some continuity in representation of the city. He plans to be on the November ballot.

At least three of the four Bangor representatives will not run again next year. Reps. Jacqueline Norton, D-Bangor, and Patricia Blanchette, D-Bangor, are termed out. Rep. Sean Faircloth, D-Bangor, is giving up his seat in hopes of becoming the next Attorney General.

In the House of Representatives, the tone was more positive as five new members were marched to Gov. John Baldacci’s office to be sworn in.

Watch or see our photos here.

House leadership must be anticipating busy times ahead for the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, in anticipation of the jails-prisons consolidation debate.

Committee members Reps. Patricia Blanchette, D-Bangor, and Richard Sykes, R-Harrison, had a second committee assignment last year, but today were removed from the other committees.

New Rep. Peter Johnson, R-Greenville, will replace Sykes on the Labor Committee, and new Rep. Michael Carey, D-Lewiston, will take Blanchette’s seat on the LVA committee.