Western Maine Legislative Caucus [Western Mountains Alliance]
"Meet the Candidates"
Public Breakfast Forum
April 7, 2006

YES, I will attend the caucus forum and respond to the qestionnaire

Brief background/bio:

Christopher F. Miller moved to Maine from Boston in 1983 and settled in Gray where he built his own solar home. He has two teenage boys, Max - the snowboarder - and Griffin - the guitarist - in Portland's Lyman Moore middle school.

Chris studied architecture, economics and political science and graduated from MIT in 1979. He worked with solar energy systems and as a designer/builder and general contractor of solar homes and energy efficient buildings. In 1994 Chris started MaineStreet (maine.com) and helped bring commercial internet services to Maine. He is slowly turning maine.com into a community publishing service.

Chris was involved with the Kucinich campaign here in Maine and he has worked with PeopleFirst!Maine on corporate redefinition. He researches and writes about obscure topics like "Joe Brennan and the National Guard", why liberals are pro-growth, where did the interurban run. A life-long Democrat, Chris has been focused more and more on the need for strong local communities and economies.

Chris is a serious "foodie" and an avid if not very successful organic gardener; he cherishes time spent digging in the vegetable garden, time spent cutting and planting trees, and even time spent replacing the well pump or roof. He's been a long term advocate of personal independence, self-sufficiency and energy conservation.

Chris was born Oct 7, 1954 in Boston. He went to St. Mark's School in Southboro, MA (1972). His sister, mom and ex-wife live in North Whitefield, Falmouth, and Portland. Another sister lives in Minnesota - but surely wishes she were in Maine.

Background

The single overriding issue facing Maine is the depletion of cheap fossil fuels and the havoc that will wreak on our growth and energy dependent economy. Our food is fertilized by, irrigated by, and transported by fossil fuel. Money itself is pegged to oil.

This party is about to come to an abrupt end. Any one of a number of events - include the mere passage of time - can and will disrupt our fragile energy system. It's up to us to convert Maine to a sustainable low-energy economy and to do it as soon as possible.

The challenge is bigger than any the human species has ever faced. Adjusting will require a phenomenal committment from everyone in Maine. It will take several generations. We cannot leave anyone behind; we must all come through this whitewater whole. We cannot start too soon.

We cannot grow our way out of this situation because growth is the problem. There is no place for the rising tide to lift all boats. The liberal economists who insist we will find a replacement for cheap energy have only snake oil.

If we act now, if we act together, if we commit to leaving no one behind, we can pull Maine through this challenge.

Like much of the state, western Maine is experiencing rapid land use changes that will affect the future availability of natural resources for commercial, recreational, conservation, and agricultural purposes. How do you feel the region can best address changing land use issues and what role would you play as Governor in making this happen?

Our security starts with our local communities. We will not get any help from the Federal government; ask New Orleans. We must prioritize local community based cooperative enterprises.

We must keep agricultural land for agriculture. We must figure out how to put it back into production.

Conservation is critical. Not only for energy, but for our land, our water, and our soil. Otherwise we will strip our woodlots bare in a few years, sell our water, pollute our soil and poison our seedcorn.

Please describe any current or proposed legislation you would support to address this issue?

OilFree2020 - Maine will use 10% less fossil energy each year.

Last year's LD1495, stripping corporations of "personhood" rights - a first step in converting economy to citizen control.

Freeze CAFTA/NAFTA/GATS. Carve Maine out.

Some will point out how unrealistic it is to convert Maine to a sustainable economy, that some of what I suggest violates any number of laws ranging from trade agreements to the commerce clause of the Constitution.

That doesn't make it any less necessary.

The Select Panel Report on school administrative unit organizations, which was requested and accepted by the State Board of Education, recommended that Maine reduce the number of school administrative units to 35 from the current 286. The report makes other sweeping recommendations related to school governance, school choice, quality of teaching and student learning, time, and technology. Would you provide us with your position regarding the reduction in number of school systems within the State and any of the other recommendations? The report can be downloaded here

School administrative units should be contiguous with the community the school serves. In practice, that will not reduce the number of units, but increase the number of units. Political control, administrative control and the resources to fund operations should be contiguous.

The State Board of Education should issue recommendations, best practice and technical guidelines. Community school boards should have the decision making power. (Community will often be geographic, but it might be chartered otherwise, eg for an agricultural or technical focus.)

In a low energy, sustainable economy, power and implementation will have to move from Augusta to the local communities. Our kids will have to walk to school. There will be a lot more variation from school to school.

Western Maine's inadequate access to cell phone signals and high speed internet technologies has been cited as one of the region's barriers to development. As Governor, what would you do to ensure that all of Maine has access to this technology?

Good cell phones and high speed internet are necessary tools for our communities.

As governor, I would encourage the development of community telecom cooperatives - much like the rural electric co-ops that wired the bulk of our nation neglected by the for-profits.

Community investment co-operatives might operate facilities for energy generation, photovoltaic and battery-reconditioning or
transportation.

If a community wants access to a technology, the state should encourage that community (or members within) to build and own its own provider.

The state's regulatory and tax policies have been credited with discouraging business development and location in Maine. Do you feel these are issues for business attraction in the state? If not, why not? If so, what would you do as Governor to address this situation?

Maine does not need to attract business from elsewhere. We need to encourage entrepreneurship among our own people. Call centers, water extraction and trash are not what I think of as businesses we want to attract. We need farmers and skilled tradespeople every bit as much as we need doctors, engineers and mechanics. We need strong communities to pull through the whitewater.

Businesses have a tremendous amount of power in this state and they have used it to pay less and less taxes over time. I would institute a business inputs tax along the lines of that used in New Hampshire. Like the personal income tax, it would have a minimum exemption. We need our businesses to pull with the communities.

Some business equipment replaces workers. In replacing the employees, the tax revenue that the employees would have paid for community services is lost yet the business still gets the services - maybe even more services. The business equipment or the business itself should be taxed; the burden should not be shifted from a business that sheds workers onto the local property tax.

TIFs are another example of beggar they neighbor policies. If a town wants to give money away to a Wal-Mart, why not issue a bond?

We need to stop shifting taxes from business to people where ultimately it ends up in the property tax.

Please describe any current or proposed legislation you would support to address this issue?

NH style business inputs tax, eliminate BETR reimbursements (or change concept) eliminate Pine Tree zones.

Regulatory changes might include stripping corporations of personhood so as to bring them under stronger regulatory control, taking away right to operate of corporations not operating in public interest, preference for local businesses.

We hear statistics from the Maine Development Foundation, the Compact for Higher Education, and others explaining the need for more associates, baccalaureate and advanced degree holders in Maine in order to meet the needs of today's businesses. At the same time, the state is cutting funding for higher education and, in doing so, increasing the costs for local residents to obtain high education. Do you feel education is a priority and, if so, how would you propose that we support the University of Maine system and Maine students to accomplish this?

I'm a strong believer in a liberal arts education. We need to educate students to perform as citizens, to start their own enterprises, to fill roles in the community. I fear training students for "today's businesses" is not education but job training. I fear that many of these jobs in "today's businesses"
are all too easily exported. The focus on "today's businesses" and the business mindset is what has turned education into an expensive private good over the past 30 years.

Where our educational system - local, state and national - trains students for the needs of today's businesses, we fail to address our future as people. Training for today's businesses means accepting the assumption that tomorrow will be pretty much like today. But tomorrow will not be like today.

Education is a public good. Maine needs college graduates largely free of loans so they can put their talents to work here in the state. We need to reduce the price of college education for those
who will contribute their efforts to Maine.

Where education is a public good, we can promote a culture of ongoing learning. The community college system and non-traditional learning needs to be expanded and institutionalized locally.

On a related note, the University of Maine at Farmington -- Maine's top liberal arts college and the state's most efficient campus in terms of administrative costs, and Franklin Memorial Hospital, a star on the public health front and also cost-effective, receive the lowest state support of others in their sectors in Maine. Why is this and what would you do as Governor to better support effective western Maine institutions such as these?

I'd ask how can UMF and Franklin help the rest of Maine? In helping others, they would also develop their own expertise even further.

How can UMF help the rest of Maine? I just received via WMA a press release on a Home Energy Form, April 4, 7-9pm sponsored by UMF and Dr. Drew Barton.

> HOME ENERGY FORUM
>
> Like to reduce your energy use, save money, and lighten your
> environmental impact?  Of course you would!!!  We invite you to
> attend a Home Energy Forum at the University of Maine at Farmington
> sponsored by students in Professor Barton's First-year Seminar, 'The
> Party's Over.'
> ...
>
> TOPICS:  Practical energy concepts, Solar photovoltaics, Passive
> solar, Energy efficient design, Insulation, Reality of being off-
> grid, and more.
>
> SPEAKERS: Paul Stancioff (UMF physics professor), Conrad Heschen
> (energy efficiency designer & consultant), Bede Wellford (Vital Air
> Technologies), Darrell Dyke (Daydreams Solar), Susan Cochran & David
> Larkin (long-time off-grid homeowners),

That is educating our students - including the community - for our future. Business will follow.

Although this winter has been anomaly, Maine is typically a cold place from November through March. In addition to high energy costs, rural states such as Maine also struggle with high transportation costs. As Governor, how do you define the energy and transportation issues in western Maine and how do you plan to address these challenges?

This year, next year, the year after; we will not return to "normal". We have exceeded the limits to growth but keep growing while our supplies are declining.

KeepMeWarm is only a tiny start. We need to put concerted effort
into our housing stock. We need solar collectors wherever we can put them.

This is an emergency. We must order the Guard home and put it to work laying rail. We must rebuild something like the interurban and reconnect our communities with light rail. We need a 24x7 light rail infrastructure to carry people and light freight.

Energy and transportation will affect food supplies and work. We need to plant gardens. We need to help our neighbors plant their gardens or they will be in our gardens when they get hungry.

Governor Baldacci has implemented an aggressive approach to controlling health costs and expanding access for the uninsured and improving quality, which is called The Dirigo Health Initiative. Can you comment on whether you support all or part of The Dirigo Health Initiative and what you would change about it if you became Governor?

The biggest problem with the Dirigo program is that it is NOT aggressive enough. State employees, the unions, the Governor himself if my memory is correct, are NOT covered by Dirigo. Everyone needs to get on board.

Once again, we are all in this together.

We need to own our own health care providers, probably in the form of community based health care cooperatives. We will NOT have the resources to provide everything to everyone; the decisions on structure of plans does properly belong to the membership.

We need universal coverage where the only pre-existing condition is residency in Maine.

Getting from here to there is hard. Perhaps it would be easier if Dirigo were not a single entity, but a set of guidelines or charter outlines. There might be a variety of pilot experiments with different plans. Dirigo hospice might be different than Dirigo kids. [Public charter schools might be a good analogy.]

There might be a Dirigo Public Health to provide those services that are regular and encouraged. Some services, vaccinations for example, might readily available from Dirigo Public Health - eliminating police costs entirely. That might expand to checkups, AIDS tests, mammograms and so forth.