Sen. Collins urges HHS students to show ‘integrity’

Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
GUEST SPEAKER — U.S. Senator Susan Collins speaks with Houlton High School students prior to taking the podium for her presentation Thursday at the school.
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Could Maine’s next U.S. Senator be sitting in Houlton High School? Sen. Susan Collins thinks it’s a possibility.
    Houlton High School welcomed Collins Thursday for a guest lecture and question-and-answer period. The second of four speakers to be brought to the school by the Houlton High School student council, Collins gave a brief overview of her professional history and also stressed the importance of integrity and civility throughout her conversation with the student body.
    First elected to the Senate in 1996, Collins, a Caribou native, is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.
    “It’s easy to see why she is known as one of the hardest working members of Congress,” said Principal Marty Bouchard, “She is currently the longest serving senator never to have missed a role call vote in the past 15 years. She recently cast her 4,825th consecutive vote.”
    Collins explained she was invited by HHS teacher Tim Tweedie, who once worked for Collins as a staff assistant in both the Presque Isle and Bangor offices. She also bestowed accolades on the school’s Student Council for coming up with the speaker series concept.
    “It’s such an important part of your school’s mission to help all students become good learners and good citizens,” she said. “Integrity, honesty and civility are values that I think are so important to your life, no matter what field you choose or what you decide to do.”
    She explained that when she was a senior at Caribou High School, she met U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith through her participation in the U.S. Senate Youth Program and was in awe at how the senator treated her with respect.
    “She was known for her integrity,” Collins said. “She was forceful, determined and stood tall for what she believed in, but yet she was always civil.”
    Collins explained she grew up with an interest in government at a very young age. In 1994, she ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Maine, losing to Angus King, but it was the manner in which she conducted herself during that election which ultimately led her to a career in politics.
    “After the campaign was over, I was exhausted, broke, uninsured and unemployed, but because of the way I conducted myself during that campaign, I was offered a job at Husson College,” she said. “Despite losing that race, I learned so much about our state. More importantly, I respected my opponents and offered ideas for the future. I did not engage in negative campaigning or blame others for my loss.”
    Less than two years later, the opportunity arose for Collins to run for the U.S. Senate when Bill Cohen decided not to seek re-election.
    “The good reputation that I established in my first campaign made all the difference,” she said. “Winning and losing are temporary conditions, but integrity is something that lasts.”
    Collins also spent time discussing a typical day in the life of a United States Senator and concluded her speech with a question-and-answer period. Many of the students asked the Republican leader what her stance was on SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), which was a bill to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to fight online trafficking in copyrighted property, particularly music, and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).
    “Those bills are designed to prevent copyrighted material from being stolen,” Collins said. “They have a good purpose, but the two bills are written in a way that is so broad, they would have unintended consequences.”