BELFAST — Eleven of Waldo County's 12 candidates for state legislature were at a forum at Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast, Friday morning to lay out their priorities, talk about education, heath, party politics and — as House District 42 candidate Leo LaChance put it — "jobs, jobs, jobs."

The event was sponsored by the Waldo County Leadership Circle, a group that counts among its members school superintendents, municipal officers, police, healthcare workers and others. Roughly 25 people attended.

Veteran moderator Lee Woodward drew questions from a list that was submitted to candidates in advance. And lest they get off easy, he asked each of them what they though about two hot-button proposals: the 22-million gallon liquified petroleum gas terminal in Searsport and the east-west highway.

All of Waldo County's house districts and its lone senate seat are contested this year. Two sitting representatives, Andrew O'Brien, D-Lincolnville, of District 44 and Peter Rioux, R-Winterport, are not running for re-election. In the remaining House districts (41, 43, and 45) and Waldo County's lone senate seat (District 23) an incumbent faces a challenger from the opposing party. The races are as follows (incumbents are shown in italics):

House District 41 James Gillway, R-Searsport, serving first term, Meredith Ares, D-Searsport

House District 42 Leo LaChance, R-Winterport, Joe Brooks, I-Winterport

House District 43 Erin Herbig, D-Belfast, serving first term, Donna Hopkins, R-Belmont

House District 44 Lloyd Chase, D-Liberty, Jethro Pease, R-Morrill

House District 45 Ryan Harmon, R-Palermo, 1 term, Brian Jones (D-Freedom)

Senate District 23 Michael Thibodeau, R-Winterport, two terms in House, serving first term in Senate, Glenn "Chip" Curry, D-Belfast

Democratic Senate challenger Chip Curry was not at Friday's forum.

Below are highlights of the candidates' responses, listed by district and presented with attention to where the candidates' visions differed from those of their opponents.

District 41 – Frankfort, Orland, Prospect, Searsport, Stockton Springs and Verona Island

Responding to a question from Moderator Lee Woodward about how the candidate would cross the aisle to work with legislators from the opposing party, incumbent James Gilway said the partisan divide is more of an issue in Washington than Augusta. In his experience on the state's Transportation Committee, he said, he could recall just once when a decision seemed to have been made for partisan reasons.

"Other than that, it has pretty much worked out," he said.

Challenger Meredith Ares said the voting records told a different story; that many issues had been decided along party lines. Ares said the perception that representatives have drastically different goals is amplified by votes based on party ideologies. As a remedy, she proposed that representatives avoid coded terms like "deregulation" and "safety net" and use statistics like those published by the Economic Growth Council as a neutral to guide for policy-making. "Democrats don't want red tape. Republicans want to help people who really need it," she said.

Asked about their respective budgetary philosophies and whether the answer was to make the "pie" — or glass of water, as Gilway referred to it — of state revenue bigger as some had previously suggested, Gilway said a bigger pie would mean more taxes.

"The pie needs to be more attractive," he said.

Responding to an earlier comment by Ares about tax breaks for the wealthy, Gilway said the changes to tax rates were made to align with federal tax code, and also to attract businesses to the state.

Ares argued for investing in education, rather than lower taxes, as a way to bring jobs to Maine. Businesses want to locate where there are good school systems, she said.

Gilway supported the state-sponsored feasibility study for the proposed east-west highway, saying that the "hold harmless" terms mean the state would get its $300,000 investment back if the project goes forward. Given the number of years an east-west highway has been discussed, Gilway said, even if the highway isn't built it will have been money well spent to put the issue to rest.

Ares questioned the transparency of the motives behind the east-west highway proposal. The highway, she said, would have limited on and off ramps between Calais and the Canadian border and as such would not benefit people in Maine as has been suggested.

District 42 – Brooks, Jackson, Monroe, Swanville, Waldo and Winterport

Differences between the views of Independent Joe Brooks and Republican Leo LaChance didn't often stand in high relief on Friday. Asked about the most important issue facing the state, Brooks echoed other candidates that jobs and education are priorities along with a focus on small businesses. Several times the Winterport selectman raised Governor LePage's decision not to issue $40 million in bonds approved by voters saying the money should be released.

Addressing the topic of the most important issue facing the state, Leo LaChance spoke of restoring the confidence of voters in their legislature. He proposed cutting the size of the legislative body by "at least half" and giving voters to pick two legislators and two senate candidates.

On other issues, LaChance and Brooks shared similar views. Both saw jobs and education as remedies for poverty in Waldo County, and looked to investments — LaChance in education; Brooks in education and tourism — as a way to bring new revenue into the state, though neither offered specific proposals.

Both candidates said they support the proposed east-west highway. LaChance saw it as part of a history of public/private partnerships on major public works and offered the Oxford Canal and Maine Turnpike as precedents. Brooks said he supports building the highway because he believes Maine needs to trade with the Canadian provinces.

District 43 – Belfast, Belmont and Northport

Incumbent Democrat Erin Herbig and Republican Donna Hopkins agreed that the most important issue facing the state is a lack of jobs and both see an expanded economy as the way to get there. But they took relatively different views on how this would happen. Herbig said Maine's "quality of place" would attract businesses, and said the state needs workforce training in heritage industries like boatbuilding and farming.

Hopkins said lower energy costs, an educated workforce and a good regulatory climate are what businesses will need to flourish in Maine.

The District 43 candidates reiterated these views when asked to give their respective budget philosophies. Both called for increased revenues. Hopkins spoke in particular of attracting businesses to the state while Herbig said focusing on existing businesses in Maine represents a substantial part of the economic development equation that shouldn't be overlooked.

On the partisan divide, Hopkins said she would take to Augusta a willingness to listen to the views of others and use common sense.

"I'm a good listener," she said. "I will listen to all sides before forming an opinion." 

Herbig said the climate in Augusta will be more divisive if voters elect candidates with extreme viewpoints.

Herbig said she didn't support using public funds for the feasibility study for the proposed east-west highway and doesn't currently support the project. Nor did she voice support for the Searsport propane terminal, saying she supports economic development but not at the cost of the enviroment. Hopkins said she was not knowledgable about either project. The statement was not taken well by some audience members, one of whom could be heard to say, "Start reading."

Both candidates supported funding for Healthy Maine Partnership, which was cut in the last legislative session. Hopkins responded to a question about the biggest health issue facing Waldo County by saying she felt smoking ranks near the top. Responding to the same question Herbig said poverty, particularly for young children.

District 44 – Appleton, Hope, Islesboro, Liberty, Lincolnville, Morrill and Searsmont

Asked about the best size for Maine's legislative bodies, Republican Jethro Pease said he could see cutting both the House and Senate by a third. The savings, he said would accrue not only from legislators' salaries but those of the staff that support them. Democrat Lloyd Chase said maybe the Legislature could be reduced by 25-percent but said the cuts would result in less representation for voters and more work for representatives.

Asked about the state's failure to meet the voter mandated requirement to fund 55 percent of Maine's Essential Programs and Services school funding formula, Chase said he believed the funding mandate should be met but did not say how. Pease did not disagree about meeting the 55 percent requirement, but said that cuts to state funding were made across the board. Some departments grew disproportionately he said and should be reviewed. He gave Head Start as an example saying he believes funding was not necessarily going to children. A social worker who attended the forum said later that she took the statement to mean the money was going to administration instead. If so, she said, she disagreed.

Both Pease and Chase said they favor a zero-based approach to the budget, in which a previous year's expenses are not put forward as a starting point for budgeting the coming year, but rather all expenses are considered anew. Chase called the philosophy one of the few areas where he and Pease agree.

Chase expressed concern about the state funding for the east-west highway feasibility study — "It should have been the other way around," he said — and said the width of the proposed corridor between Calais and Old Town suggested the plan was to use it for something other than just a highway. Pease said he had seen a lot "knee-jerk reactions" to the east-west highway proposal. His main concern, he said, was that the state could grant a private entity the right of eminent domain to take land for the highway.

Chase called the Searsport propane terminal a "local issue that should be treated as a regional issue." Pease said he did not have a lot of knowledge of the proposal but while he agreed with an earlier comment by District 45 candidate Brian Jones that an explosion could be catastrophic, he sees it as an improbable event and would be inclined to worry more about common dangers like wood stove fires in homes.

In response to a health question that encompassed funding for the Healthy Maine Partnerships and top health concerns in Waldo County, Pease said he saw obesity as a potentially greater threat than smoking.

"I'm going to go out on a limb," he said, before saying that he would entertain the idea of a small tax on soft drinks to raise money for new programs that target obesity. The money for these programs, he said, isn't there in the current budget. Chase said he would preserve funding for Heathy Maine Partnerships.

District 45 – Burnham, Freedom, Knox, Montville, Palermo, Thorndike, Troy and Unity

Asked if legislative races should be transparent with regard to identities of donors, Democratic challenger Brian Jones and Republican incumbent Ryan Harmon seemed to interpret the question differently. Jones gave an unequivocal yes.

"It's only a coward that claims the right to free speech who won't claim that speech as his own," he said. Referring to the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, he added, "... Money is not speech."

Where Jones seemed to be speaking of expenditures by political action committees, which can be funded anonymously, Harmon addressed the question with regard to disclosure of direct campaign contributions, which he said can be viewed online through the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices.

"It's all very transparent now," he said.

Harmon cautioned against using terms like "big corporations," he said could describe local businesses and farms.

Both candidates said the state should meet its 55 percent school funding obligation, but differed in whether or not it could be done.

"Unfortunately we've never honored that, because it's constitutional [to honor it]," said Harmon. But he said the "pie" of the state budget was only so large and representatives had the job of figuring out how to spend it. 

Jones, a selectman in Freedom, placed the problem in the context of a municipal budget and said selectmen would never have the option of ignoring a requirement voted upon at a town meeting. Likewise, he said, a town wouldn't set the tax rate first and decide that's what the town is going to spend regardless of what people need.

"Education is being funded at 100percent," he said. "The question is, do you believe in progressive taxation?"

Jones said he did and that he rejected the burden of school funding shifting to municipalities which raise money through property taxes, which are regressive by nature.

Harmon called the Searsport propane terminal an issue that is local to Searsport. Jones expressed concern for a catastrophic accident at the terminal that he said could resemble Hiroshima. Jones also raised the question, "Why here, why now?"

On the east-west highway, Jones stated a strong objection to the state funding the feasibility study, likening it to "having your teacher do your homework for you." He also questioned the 50-year projections for the highway on grounds that automobiles have only been around for 100 years and rail transportation is, in most cases, more efficient. Harmon said he is adamantly against taking land by eminent domain with regard to the proposed highway.

Jones called out the sitting legislators who expressed support for Healthy Maine Partnerships, noting that it was the 125th Legislature that cut funding for the program.

"I don't call that support," he said. State Senator Michael Thibodeau responded to Jones' argument shortly after saying the original proposal was to cut the program entirely. Considering that, Thibodeau said, he was proud of the current representatives for retaining some funding for the program.