BRUNSWICK

The seasoned incumbent, the independent and the populist newcomer.

All three are candidates for the state Senate who sounded different during a forum Wednesday in Brunswick, drawing contrasts on hot-button topics such as welfare and the minimum wage.

Incumbent Stan Gerzofsky (Democrat), Fred Horch (Green, Independent) and Jennifer Johnson (Republican) are vying for the Senate District 24 seat which, under the newly redrawn districts, encompasses Brunswick, Freeport, Harpswell, North Yarmouth and Pownal.

Gerzofsky and Johnson drew the sharpest contrast when asked a question drafted by an audience member to describe a typical welfare recipient.

Johnson said that too many people have learned how to abuse the system.

“Clearly, the abuse is there,” Johnson said. “When somebody uses somebody else’s card, and everyone knows it.”

Those who actually require help, she said, “are working extra hard” and may be too proud to ask for welfare.

Gerzofsky, however, noted that the Legislature gave the attorney general $3 million to investigate welfare fraud and no cases were found to prosecute.

According to Gerzofsky, 85 percent of those collecting welfare are single mothers, while 15 percent are veterans. Many seniors require assistance because Social Security is not enough to make ends meet month-to-month.

While he said he believed in welfare reform, he didn’t believe the system was broken. In an election, he said, “It’s easy to pick on the people who have the least.”

Horch agreed with Gerzofsky, and also advocated for welfare reform and a guaranteed income.

“Once you’re trapped in that (welfare) system, it’s like you’re in quicksand,” Horch said

Gerzofsky advocated raising the standard of living in Maine, and said raising the minimum wage puts money back in the economy by stimulating spending.

“Nobody should have to work their 40 hours and come home and worry about paying for the fuel in the furnace,” Gerzofsky said.

Horch said the minimum wage ought to be indexed to the poverty level.

“There’s a lot of evidence that raising the minimum wage raises income for everybody,” he said, including businesses. “If they can’t afford to buy your products, you can’t sell your products. Nobody should work full time and live in poverty.”

Johnson disagreed with the notion of raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.

“You’ve got teenagers making $10.10. They’re not going home to feed their families. Businesses are not going to hire those teenagers,” Johnson said. “Raising it is going to be hurtful to our businesses.”

All candidates said they were in support of the current Amtrak service that recently came to town, as well as plans to build a massive train shed in Brunswick. The candidates also all disagreed with the decision to build the facility in an area of West Brunswick. Gerzofsky said he didn’t want to see the proposed site become a “toxic dump” as a result of the passenger train layover facility. Johnson said the facility ought to have been located in Cook’s Corner, while Horch said he would prefer to see expanded use of non-diesel trains.

Johnson, an owner of her family’s sporting goods store in Cook’s Corner, blamed the exodus of other retailers leaving that area on high rents charged by landlords looking to offset Brunswick’s high property taxes.

“Brunswick is becoming the highest-taxed (community) in the state of Maine for the mill rate,” Johnson said.

Small businesses in Maine, she said, were “under a lot of stress” because of the state’s tax rate. “Do I know every answer on the tax base? No. But I do know this: We are taxed to death.”

Gerzofsky was more optimistic and said Cook’s Corner will become revitalized in the same way as downtown Maine Street. Cook’s Corner, he said, is a “great example of what should be done” in drawing “spot development” through the use of state funding.

Gerzofsky refuted the notion that Maine was one of the highest-taxed states in the nation. He recent tax cuts were “appalling” because they shifted the tax burden from wealthier business owners onto property owners.

Horch said he would be “very fiscally conservative” and advocated for a progressive income tax.

All three said they are or had been small business owners, and are running as clean election candidates.

Horch remarked on his earlier, failed attempts to get elected to the Legislature, drawing a quote from Winston Churchill: “Success is going from one failure to the next with undiminished enthusiasm.” Horch is a proponent of a state solar grid, a permanent fund, and voter choice — the ability for Maine voters to vote for more than one candidate.

As a Green Independent, Horch said he would help solve partisan gridlock “just by showing up every day for work in Augusta” and mediating disputes between the two major parties.

Gerzofsky has been in the Legislature since being elected to the House in 2000, and has spent the past six years in the Senate. The incumbent brought up his experience serving under Legislatures controlled by either Republicans, Democrats, or were under divided leadership.

He said he has formed close relationships with Republicans during his tenure, and noted that the two parties come together on bills more often than not.

Johnson repeatedly drew on her experience as a small business owner and single mother of two. “I’m one of the few people in this town that feels everything,” she said.

The Republican also tried to assert herself as independent minded. “I’m not a politician,” she said, later adding, “I was registered Republican. It doesn’t define me.”

jswinconeck@timesrecord.com

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