Why is Maine so attractive to born-elsewhere politicians? It’s not as if we can’t grow our own. Senator Angus King hails from Virginia and went to law school there. Early in this current election cycle former Obama Administration official Susan Rice, born and raised in Washington, D. C., put up a trial balloon about running for our senate seat. Her rationale was that she summered here as a child and “liked” Maine. When that balloon plummeted, the dark money-Schumer-Majority Forward axis focused on Rhode Island-born Sara Gideon, whose service to Maine includes putting the legislature on furlough for four months during the covid-19 pandemic, abandoning the state to the devices of Gov. Janet Mills.

It is nice when our elected officials feel their primary responsibility is to the welfare of Maine, rather than merely using Maine as a steppingstone to bigger and better things. In Senator Collins we have a homegrown public servant of world-class stature with a four term track record of integrity, honesty, and dedicated service to her constituency and a from-the-cradle understanding of Maine and its people. Of late she has come under fire for her principled vote to confirm Supreme Court candidate Brett Kavanaugh. This was not a vote for or against any particular political philosophy, but rather recognition of his undeniably superlative, impeccable credentials. She could not fairly buy into the outrageous tactics of the extreme, partisan, militant, doctrinaire, Democrat left whose case against candidate Kavanaugh was a disgrace, without substance or merit.

Washington could do with a bit more Maine, and Maine with a little less Washington.

David G. Reed lives in Rockport