Tom Allen Offers Case for Change
Political Desk
October 29, 2008
The nation's growing economic crisis has become all too real for families, small businesses and hardworking people across Maine. Here's what Tom Allen has said:
"I have listened to them around their kitchen tables, in country stores, at community suppers and on the streets of cities and towns from Madawaska to Eliot, from Eastport to Fryeburg. They are hurting.
For years, while their paychecks haven't grown, the costs for fuel, food, health care, tuition and other basic expenses have soared.
Now, with the meltdown in financial markets, their savings, the value of their homes and their retirement security are steadily shrinking. Their plans to send their kids to college, start or expand a business or buy a car are slipping away.
I share their anger at the speculators and the financial managers whose risk taking and greed caused this calamity.
I'm just as mad as they are that the Bush administration's contempt for government regulation, coupled with its failed economic policies, created the climate for this disaster.
Like them, I've had enough.
But I also know that, working together, we can turn America in a new direction.
I learned that from my parents, from the people I grew up with here in Maine, from pruning trees and digging potatoes on our farm in Sebago, from my school days in Portland and Brunswick, from hiking and fishing the backwoods, from my time working for George Mitchell and Ed Muskie, from my 20 years in the private sector and from my service as a city councilor and mayor.
Maine values shaped my character, inspired my passion for public service and have guided my judgment representing Maine in the House.
They fueled my determination to take on the pharmaceutical companies and corporate polluters. They gave me the common sense to know that the economic policies of the Bush administration would be bad for families and small businesses here in Maine. They provided me with the strength to stand up to my own party's leaders to oppose the War in Iraq.
These are the values I will take with me if you elect me to the Senate.
Susan Collins and I have served together for 12 years, voting on virtually every major issue facing Congress. I believe that her support for the Bush economic policies, the Bush energy policies and the Bush Iraq War policies have been bad for Maine.
Unfortunately, Susan Collins has been too close to Bush; we need to change direction. I believe that my record and my vision for the future better reflect the priorities and aspirations of Maine people.
I have offered detailed proposals in this campaign to address the most pressing challenges confronting Maine and America.
I have introduced legislation to cut taxes for small business and the middle class, to provide a $2,000 tax credit this year and next to help families pay for heating fuel, and to undertake a rural development initiative to create jobs and opportunities in small towns across Maine.
I have an energy plan that increases domestic production in the short term, emphasizes conservation and efficiency, including achieving 55 mpg vehicle fuel efficiency by 2030, and invests in wind, solar, cellulosic ethanol and other alternative fuels that will increase our energy independence and create exciting new jobs in Maine.
I am the only Senate candidate in the nation who has a plan to give every American access to quality affordable health care. You can read more about my proposals on my Web site, tomallen.org.
In February, Diana and I welcomed our first grandchild, Charlie, named for my father. If Charlie lives to be 92, he will witness the dawn of the 22nd century.
The decisions we make in the next few years will determine what kind of nation and world we will leave for Charlie and for your children and grandchildren.
To change the failed policies of the past, we must change the leaders responsible for them.
I am running for the Senate to deliver the change that we need to secure their future, to assure they will grow up in peace, to protect the freedoms we cannot take for granted and to preserve the American dream of opportunity for all. I ask for your support on Nov. 4."
"I have listened to them around their kitchen tables, in country stores, at community suppers and on the streets of cities and towns from Madawaska to Eliot, from Eastport to Fryeburg. They are hurting.
For years, while their paychecks haven't grown, the costs for fuel, food, health care, tuition and other basic expenses have soared.
Now, with the meltdown in financial markets, their savings, the value of their homes and their retirement security are steadily shrinking. Their plans to send their kids to college, start or expand a business or buy a car are slipping away.
I share their anger at the speculators and the financial managers whose risk taking and greed caused this calamity.
I'm just as mad as they are that the Bush administration's contempt for government regulation, coupled with its failed economic policies, created the climate for this disaster.
Like them, I've had enough.
But I also know that, working together, we can turn America in a new direction.
I learned that from my parents, from the people I grew up with here in Maine, from pruning trees and digging potatoes on our farm in Sebago, from my school days in Portland and Brunswick, from hiking and fishing the backwoods, from my time working for George Mitchell and Ed Muskie, from my 20 years in the private sector and from my service as a city councilor and mayor.
Maine values shaped my character, inspired my passion for public service and have guided my judgment representing Maine in the House.
They fueled my determination to take on the pharmaceutical companies and corporate polluters. They gave me the common sense to know that the economic policies of the Bush administration would be bad for families and small businesses here in Maine. They provided me with the strength to stand up to my own party's leaders to oppose the War in Iraq.
These are the values I will take with me if you elect me to the Senate.
Susan Collins and I have served together for 12 years, voting on virtually every major issue facing Congress. I believe that her support for the Bush economic policies, the Bush energy policies and the Bush Iraq War policies have been bad for Maine.
Unfortunately, Susan Collins has been too close to Bush; we need to change direction. I believe that my record and my vision for the future better reflect the priorities and aspirations of Maine people.
I have offered detailed proposals in this campaign to address the most pressing challenges confronting Maine and America.
I have introduced legislation to cut taxes for small business and the middle class, to provide a $2,000 tax credit this year and next to help families pay for heating fuel, and to undertake a rural development initiative to create jobs and opportunities in small towns across Maine.
I have an energy plan that increases domestic production in the short term, emphasizes conservation and efficiency, including achieving 55 mpg vehicle fuel efficiency by 2030, and invests in wind, solar, cellulosic ethanol and other alternative fuels that will increase our energy independence and create exciting new jobs in Maine.
I am the only Senate candidate in the nation who has a plan to give every American access to quality affordable health care. You can read more about my proposals on my Web site, tomallen.org.
In February, Diana and I welcomed our first grandchild, Charlie, named for my father. If Charlie lives to be 92, he will witness the dawn of the 22nd century.
The decisions we make in the next few years will determine what kind of nation and world we will leave for Charlie and for your children and grandchildren.
To change the failed policies of the past, we must change the leaders responsible for them.
I am running for the Senate to deliver the change that we need to secure their future, to assure they will grow up in peace, to protect the freedoms we cannot take for granted and to preserve the American dream of opportunity for all. I ask for your support on Nov. 4."
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