ME-01: I voted for Ethan Strimling

Two days ago, I cast my votes in the Senate and 1st District primaries. While everyone knows I support Tom Ledue, I had a long period of time in which I pondered which candidate to vote for to replace Tom Allen in Congress.

Everyone also knows I have been an "equal opportunity destroyer" in the race. I have praised candidates for that which they've done well, and hammered at candidates for that which they've done poorly.

In the end, I was willing to support five of the six candidates (see Adam Cote and BIPAC for why it's only five) in the race. I still believe all five of those candidates would do a wonderful job as our representative in Congress, and will work my heart out for whichever of them wins the primary.

That said, I could only vote for one, and it was Senator Ethan Strimling.

My reasons for supporting Ethan are simple:

One, he put in a bill to preserve net neutrality when it was an issue for wonks, and it wasn't sexy. Maine doesn't exactly have a huge crew of people who know about or care about the issue. But he recognized the importance of the issue, and did something about it.

Two, the Strimling-Nass tax proposal. While it wasn't everything I hoped for, it was a good tax proposal. Senators Strimling and Nass- one great liberal, one crazy conservative- sit down and come up with a tax plan that manages to give everyone something, and not leave anyone feeling screwed. Yes, the Senate killed it. And it's a sad statement that it died the way it did. But he did more for tax reform than we'd seen in a few years. I hope someone brings the bill back with a larger majority.

Three, he asked me for my support. A lot. And so did his supporters. There is something to be said about getting three phone calls from the guy when he's running for Congress. When you need 20,000 votes or something to win a primary, and someone wants your support enough to repeatedly ask for it- in three calls, five meetings, one of which was one on one- how do you say no? I stayed neutral, and I made sure that all the candidates could come to my county and feel safe speaking here. Now that that's done, I can make my choice without making any of these fine people feel awkward.

Four, is merely a matter of opinion. As I've traveled around my county, I have seen more support for Ethan in my area than any other candidate. More of my friends support Ethan than any other candidate. If the local activists who voted to make me Vice-Chair of the Kennebec County Democrats are supporting Ethan, then I should too. I feel that has been the case, so here I am.

I have a whole host of other issues and reasons why I could back Ethan. But in the end, these were really the things that did it for me. These were the things that made him stand out to me- that which "broke the tie", as it were. I hope some of you will join me in my support of Ethan, and if not, we'll all have a big love-in on June 11th!