Tag Archives: Bruce Poliquin

Jun 11 2012

Time to Get Out and Vote!


2 hours ago

Bruce Poliquin

  • Dear Friends,

    I appreciate all the kind messages many of you have sent. ELECTION DAY is tomorrow, Tuesday June 12th, and polls are open until 8pm. I would consider it a personal favor if you and your family would please go vote for me for the open U.S. Senate seat.

    We expect this to be an incredibly close election. Please encourage your friends, co-workers, and neighbors to VOTE POLIQUIN FOR U.S. SENATE!

    For more information visit: www.BruceForSenate.com
    And check out our Facebook page @www.facebook.com/BrucePoliquin

    Best wishes!

Jun 9 2012

Breitbart Sets the Record Straight.

“Governor Paul LePage, who is the most overt Tea Party governor in the country and ran against Poliquin in the primary race for governor, urged the Maine State Legislature to elect Poliquin as treasurer. LePage wanted Poliquin because he thought Poliquin could clean up the state’s biggest fiscal problem, its unfunded pension liabilities. Poliquin worked hard to accomplish that goal; last year he helped reduce the liabilities by 40% by tirelessly explaining the problem and his solution via appearances in town halls across the state. You can find the powerful argument he made here.”
To view piece on Breitbart.com, click here.
POLIQUIN THE REAL DEAL IN MAINE

Bruce Poliquin’s race for the Senate seat in Maine is tight – and there are some who have criticized flaws in his record – but there’s no doubt he’s a solid conservative. Major conservative groups have endorsed him, including Freedom Works, Concerned Women for America, and Senator Mike Lee of Utah. Americans for Prosperity Maine Chapter 2011 gave him a hero to the taxpayers award, as well.

Governor Paul LePage, who is the most overt Tea Party governor in the country and ran against Poliquin in the primary race for governor, urged the Maine State Legislature to elect Poliquin as treasurer. LePage wanted Poliquin because he thought Poliquin could clean up the state’s biggest fiscal problem, its unfunded pension liabilities. Poliquin worked hard to accomplish that goal; last year he helped reduce the liabilities by 40% by tirelessly explaining the problem and his solution via appearances in town halls across the state. You can find the powerful argument he made here.

Not only did Poliquin target pension liabilities, he also exposed wasteful spending by the Maine State Housing Authority.

In a interview last August, Poliquin articulated his positions on various matters, and they are quite conservative.

On the federal debt ceiling agreement:

“It’s a disgrace. They had an opportunity to really fix this thing and they dropped the ball. When you have a deal that allows the folks that got us into this mess to borrow another $900 million immediately but not implement tax cuts for another 10 years, I think it’s a disgrace and an embarrassment. I’m convinced we need a balanced budget amendment.”

On publicly referring to Maine’s pension crisis as a “monster” and the possibility that using such strong language sully the state’s reputation in the rating firms’ eyes:

“I don’t use the word ‘crisis.’ ‘Monster?’ Absolutely. It’s not a problem if you have the cash. In May, we convinced the ratings agencies to give us the benefit of the doubt, and they held our rating steady. They’ve been crunching our numbers for decades. They know more about our finances than I would ever know. I call it telling the truth.”

Before he launched his career in politics, Poliquin worked for a company that managed $5 billion in pension, endowment and foundation assets.  When he was sworn in as State Treasurer, he said, “unfettered growth in debt is dangerous,” and vowed to guard against any additional state borrowing so future taxpayers would not foot the bill. He would not“kick a fiscal can down the street.”

And as far as Poliquin’s gun record, it’s solid – he receives a high rating from the NRA.

There is little doubt that Poliquin is a strong conservative. Whatever flaws he has do not diminish that central and most compelling fact.

Jun 2 2012

Where Are The Ethics?

The writer of this recent opinion piece in the Bangor Daily News fails to acknowledge the detriments of poor ethics and incompetence.

Attack first, review later

I run a construction business.  Within my bid price are labor expenses and material expenses.  Although it can appear on my ledger as legitimate material expenses to over spend exorbitant materials when the job called for economy grade materials, it is still excessive and poor use of monies budgeted for that job.  Likewise if I pay Master Carpenter wages to a man who has entry-level laborer knowledge of the trade, they are still labor expenses but they are poorly managed labor expenses.  The difference is my business is private and my poor management means the demise of my business and nothing more.  Maine Housing is a public tax-funded authority that must be spartan in its approach to the disbursement of funds that do not belong to them.  It is the State Treasurer’s job to insure that those public funds are utilized that economize every penny and sees that it is used to its utmost potential.  This is why those in the media, such as the Bangor Daily News, hate this State Treasurer so much.  He does not subscribe to the prevailing notion amongst the media and bureaucracy  that public funds are a ticket to posh and pleasure; but much the rather, he believes that these funds must targeted and economized to greatest furtherance of impact.  Beyond the transcription of correctly compartmented entries on a ledger line, Poliquin firmly believes that these entries must show to the public funders of these agencies that their monies are being used with a frugal and concise understanding of what was the funds intended use.  This boils down to an understanding of ethics and job performance.  In this limited review of Maine Housing,  what was abundantly clear is that Dale McCormick believed public service was a license for poor and squanderous management and a continued adherence to the old adage, “Its good enough for government work”.  Bruce Poliquin believes that government works on a frugal targeted budget and believes all public servants should run a tight ship. The two divergent work ethics obviously cannot coexist.