Matt Jacobson was provided an opportunity to address “The Red County Caucus”.  He was invited to come.  Mr. Jacobson chose not to appear; but, rather, sent a representative to speak to the caucus.  Mr. Jacobson wants to portray himself as a Conservative, and it may well be that he is, but to snub the most conservative voting block in the State of Maine is certainly not a way to buff one’s conservative credentials.

So while Matt Jacobson’s body double spoke about what Matt Jacobson would say if Matt Jacobson were actually here to say it, “The Red County Caucus” was left wondering if this was a real representation or a figment of our imagination.  I have to say, on a personal note, that the arrogant tone that Mr. Jacobson’s alter ego took at the caucus left me feeling a little insulted.  Furthermore, the mocking grin and disdainful shaking of the head at Mayor Lepage’s presentation was in poor taste and, quite frankly, juvenile.  I hope if Matt Jacobson can find the time to make it to the Center Theater Debate on May 1^st that his behavior is more in keeping with professionalism than the hologram he sent to “The Red County Caucus”.

Mr. Jacobson has honorably served this Country and State as an Air Force pilot.  As the son of a veteran who served in Vietnam with the Air Force, I have nothing but the utmost respect for Matt Jacobson’s service.  My father also pastored a church in Presque Isle that many airmen from Loring AFB attended.  The time I spent on the base in Limestone with good Air Force friends only deepened my belief that our military personnel are the greatest on the face of the earth.

Does military service qualify you for Governor?  Well, it certainly doesn’t hurt, but for me, it all boils down to Conservatism.  All of these candidates are trying to sell their conservatism to the public.  Why?  Simply put, the public has seen liberalism at work in Augusta for 35 years and a liberal President for a year and a half.  They are not impressed.  So now, all the candidates are “going Conservative”, but we must examine them closely.

Unfortunately, Mr. Jacobson is another that has very little record to go on.  He seems to be a fiscal Conservative, but is not a social Conservative.  He has worked to negotiate and attract business into the State of Maine.  Mr. Jacobson seems to think his negotiating ability will help him attract business to Maine as Governor.  He should be reminded that we now have a President who also thought he could sweet talk problems away.  How well is that working out?  Only tax cuts and deregulation will attract business and jobs to Maine.  It is that simple.

Finally, a columnist in the Piscataquis Times made it very clear two weeks ago that, if a Conservative is a public figure, their children are free targets to attack and feast upon.  Mr. Jacobson has a beautiful young family and should be aware of this view from the left.  Obviously, Liberals feel children should only be protected if the parents of the children adhere to a liberal point of view.  It is a shameful thing to read that there are those who would advocate the public humiliation and mockery of a fellow human being’s child as an acceptable expression of disdain for that child’s parent.  What have we become?  I completely disagree with everything President Obama stands for, but could not even fathom thinking a malicious thought against his two beautiful girls. They are not even in the picture.  That’s the way it should be.

Thankfully for Liberals, they don’t have to worry about Conservatives attacking their children.  We just won’t.  It violates our principles.  Liberals, on the other hand, have no scruples because the end justifies the means.  Let’s be very clear.  We have never as a nation found the brutalization of a public figure’s children an acceptable practice.  The idea that a columnist in the Piscataquis Times would find that practice acceptable is heinous and reprehensible.

I am not sure that Matt Jacobson is experienced or qualified enough to be Governor; that said, one thing has become very clear in the past few weeks, Mr. Jacobson and his wife need to think long and hard about the “new” view of a Conservative’s children.  To some, it seems, if a child is born to Conservative, their wellbeing is expendable.  It’s hard to stomach that, even in politics.

As personalities go, there are always the individuals who have the God-given ability to invoke feelings of camaraderie in those they meet day to day.  Such was the case in Steve Abbott at the Red County Caucus.  Mr. Abbott spoke to a roomful of people who probably at first were a little suspicious of his connection to the moderate/liberal Senator Susan Collins.

As the former chief-of-staff for Senator Collins began to speak to the Caucus goers, they seem to warm to him.  He told stories of the years he spent at Hampden Academy playing basketball against Foxcroft Academy.  The audience chuckled as he retold his many heartwarming altercations with Foxcroft players leaving him usually bloodied and hospitalized.  The residents of Piscataquis County found this humorous and even engaging.

Steve Abbott proceeded with more yarns of nostalgia. This included a story about his sister shooting deer.  At this point, Mr. Abbott’s speech began to loose traction.  Not because his sister shot a deer, since the majority of the room, I’m sure, had a sister who had shot a deer; some even during deer season, but Steve Abbott held this up as some kind of political accomplishment.  There seemed to be a collective “What’s your point” emotion that began to thread through the room.  A theme was developing in this speech.

Mr. Abbott then proceeded to lay out his conservative credentials, which included his dislike of seatbelts. Yeah, you’re right, now eyes started opening.  What had started as Steve Abbott the nice guy, turned into Steve Abbott syrup and Red County Caucus goers were not impressed.

Now, you may say, “Mr. Maine Conservative Voice…guy, where’s the theme in his speech! He said nothing!”  Exactly!  That’s the theme.  That’s the intent.  Ambiguity.  He could not be quoted as saying anything definitive on any valid issue except for an outlandish, over indulgent (syrupy) claim about DEP.  Where have we heard that tactic before?  Ah hah…Susan Collins.  It all comes back to his mentor.

Now some have accused this columnist of laying wait in the grass like a cobra just waiting to strike at liberals. ( For shame, to say such things against my humble person…O.K. …guilty as charged.)  I think Steve Abbott is employing a similar tactic in his campaign.  He is hoping Paul LePage and Bill Beardsly will take each other down and he can strike from behind.

Steve Abbott has no record of leadership.  He intentionally has stayed incased in ambiguity.  This is the Susan Collins machine.  The candidate says vague catch phases intended for each demographic the candidate faces while not saying anything. Do you have that feeling of being insulted?  Get used to it.  He is Washington politics.  Thankfully, perhaps, the fact that an inexperienced, unqualified, previously unknown leader now resides in the White House may be able to give us a good indication of what type of catastrophic leadership ambiguity can bring.  Steve Abbott has no record for us to examine save for some syrupy one- liners. This columnist purposes that we look at the record of his mentor and that should give conservatives a pretty good indication of his true, political leanings.

Mr. Otten was one of the candidates that took the time to come to the Piscataquis County Caucus.  This columnist was surprised at how uncomfortable the man seemed without a teleprompter; although, I have to say, he was not the only candidate that seemed uncomfortable with the short time allotment.  With a crowded primary field and caucus business to attend to, we thought it necessary to limit the speakers to three minutes.

The pressure of time constraint can be an interesting test in itself.  It does take a special leader to consolidate his thoughts, focus his presentation, and impact his audience.  I’m not sure Mr. Otten pulled that off.  I noticed many quizzical expressions on caucus goers faces as he stumbled with his note cards.  Perhaps he should try writing notes on his hand.

Mr. Otten’s claim to fame and money is his ownership of Sunday River and Sugarloaf.  He does come from a family of money also as his father, Albert Otten or Ottenheimer, was a wealthy steel magnate in Germany before migrating to the United States landing in Princeton, New Jersey.

Les Otten purchased Sunday River in 1980.  In 1995 and 1996 Otten formed the American Skiing Company by acquiring Killington, Mount Snow, Haystack, Waterville Valley, and Sugarloaf/USA from S.K.I.  After purchasing Pico Peak, Otten began to spend heavily in marketing and infrastructure.  This ignited a huge growth boon but American Skiing soon was under a mountain of debt.  Mr. Otten’s spending habits had overleveraged the company and the company had to be bailed out.  Where have we heard that before?!  No wonder Mr. Otten kept choking on his words before the Red County Caucus.  Must have been a Freudian frog in his throat.

In the face of American Skiing’s 100 million dollar mountain of debt and stocks careening downhill (I couldn’t help myself), Les Otten sold his controlling shares and left the other partners holding the proverbial bag.  Unfortunately for Mr. Otten’s partners, American Skiing’s earnings did not keep pace with their owner, Les Otten’s, spending.  Now help me, Mr. Otten, because I’m having a hard time seeing the fiscal conservatism here….anywhere here.  Does spend thrifty Augusta really need a spend thrifty Governor?  Just asking a small common sense question.

Mr. Otten seems to embrace the liberal business model of spend now and dodge the consequences later; in fact, the more we dig into Les Otten’s campaign the more liberals we find.  Take for instance Christian Potholm, who helped the Baldacci campaign capitalize on conservative infighting to re-elect a very unpopular Governor.

My fellow Conservatives be wary of this tactic.  Moderates such as Otten, Mills, and Abbott will bide their time hoping a misstep by a Conservative such as Lepage will generate dissension within the Conservative ranks.  They will then pounce and capitalize on our disunity.

Of all the candidates, Les Otten seems to be hiding the most.  He was appointed by Governor Baldacci to chair the Wood to Energy Taskforce at the same time he was forming a wood pellet business.  Conflict of interest…maybe?  When asked why he supported the bogus Income Tax “reduction” bill, he said he did so “reluctantly”.  Hmmm, Mr. Otten, Mainers are fed up with political “emotions”.  They want actions and yours definitely speak louder than your words.   Then, of course, it would be remiss to not show the Otten “O”:

I…ah…I…I just don’t know what to say …except perhaps, “Les, you really Otten to have done that.”

With the Red County Caucus off and running, it is time to take a look at each of these candidates. This column can only view a candidate through one prism; Conservatism. As the light of common sense begins to shine on these candidates, it will either reveal standards or distortions. We begin our analysis with Peter Mills.

Peter Mills wants to be Governor. Peter Mills wants the citizens of Maine to forget that he has a voting record. Peter Mills wants us all to smile and forgive him for voting for gay marriage, voting for a fraudulent tax law last year, and then mocking the concerned citizens who bravely fought these mistakes. Well Peter Mills, this columnist will try to be objective but under the scrutiny of Conservatism there isn’t much that can be found that is positive.