Richardson racks up endorsements

15 years ago

By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer

    HOULTON — Democrat candidate for governor, John Richardson, may have tapped into some of the real concerns of working men and women. Union endorsements from ironworkers, state troopers, police and the plumbers and pipefitters seem to echo the clarion call for jobs heard around the state and the country.
ImageJohn Richardson
    Maine’s devastating budget issues are largely shaping the crowded race for governor. Richardson says the way to streamline government services for maximum efficiency may very well lie not in the hands of government appointees who have only a short window to serve, but elsewhere.
    Better government, he said, may very well rest in the hands of “employees who have a lifetime of service and know how to do it better. It was frustrating to watch and that’s why I stepped down to run for governor.” He added “No one is going to lose their job by telling me how to build a better mousetrap. What we are going to do is find you something else for you to do. We’ll solve our problems by attrition. If you come to me with a good idea, then somehow we are going to make this work.”
    Richardson has an extensive work history including government service. He is an attorney, who at one time, represented the Houlton Police Department. He also represented District 63 in the Maine House of Representatives from 1999 to 2006 and served as Speaker of the House. Most recently he was Commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development.
    Among his platform issues in addition to streamlining government services, is economic development. Richardson said in his interview with the Pioneer Times, “governors don’t create jobs. They create the right atmosphere, the right culture, the right attitude and, ultimately, the right mix of incentives and cooperation.” To achieve that, Richardson said, “in these tough times, especially, there needs to be a kind of ‘one-stop shop’ for services so that business owners and entrepreneurs don’t get a runaround from one department to another finding those services.”
    He pointed to the Aroostook Partnership for Progress as a model that could be replicated around the state and to Pine Tree Zones that allow businesses to forego certain taxes for a time and put that money back into the business. He also stressed the need to provide businesses with workforce development and training.  
    Richardson also said we “cannot sustain the growth of state government in its current form with the cost of living and inflation. Personal incomes in the state are not growing at same pace as government. We are on a collision course between government and what citizens can afford.” To adjust to the looming fiscal troubles, Richardson pointed to Iowa’s implementation of “lean engineering principles.” While he said government cannot retreat from the social safety net it provides, it can reengineer itself for efficiency and like Iowa, close the budget gap.
    Richardson lives in Brunswick with his wife, Stephanie, and their three children.