Dear Editor:

At Stephanie Hawke’s “Meet and Greet,” she expressed her “adamant refusal to take Maine taxpayers’ money to pay for her campaign,” but rather intends to raise the necessary funds for campaigning “the old-fashioned way, one voter at a time.” Unfortunately, in terms of potential donations not every voter is created equal.

Many voters in her district struggle to make ends meet and can only contribute a dollar or two; many are reasonably comfortable but unable to make large donations; whereas a very few are extremely wealthy and able to outspend anything the Clean Election Fund can provide. Voters approved the Clean Election Fund because they believe that every candidate should compete on an equal financial footing and they considered this goal a worthy use of their taxes. In order to qualify for this fund a candidate must show community support by collecting a minimum number of $5 contributions made payable to the fund — for the use of all candidates.

To imply that Holly Stover, the other candidate for State Representative from our district is somehow “taking people’s money without their consent” by running her campaign on Clean Elections Funds—twice approved by voters: once when established in 1996 and then again when it was improved and strengthened in 2015—seems disingenuous to me.

Holly is a strong candidate who is devoted to our community as a whole, rich and poor, fishermen and merchants, trades-people and their customers. She grew up in Boothbay and graduated from Boothbay Region High School. The welfare of all the residents of our community is her main concern and her working life has always focused on community service. A current example of this concern is her use of her Facebook page to post notices about affordable housing available locally as well as links to job opportunities. She has taken the time to serve on many boards, most recently the Community Resource Center’s addiction outreach program. When Angus King presented her with the Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year Award for 2018 it only served to strengthen my opinion that in Augusta she will truly be a strong representative for all her constituents.

Betsy Wing

East Boothbay