Sept. 3, 2008, 3:15 p.m. EDT
Q. What serious issue in your state would you like the next president to address?
I don’t have any doubt in my mind that it’s the economy. The economy in Maine has suffered terribly. The mortgage meltdown has had a significant effect on Maine. … We depend a lot on out-of-staters. We have the highest percentage of homes owned by out-of-staters in the country, and so when the economy is not doing well in Florida or New York or New Jersey, people don’t come to Maine to buy second homes, they don’t buy gas, they don’t buy food. I’m an attorney in Maine, and the mortgage market, selling market, real -state market has just been horrific this year. I think getting our fiscal house in order is fundamentally the most important thing we have to do. Obviously our debt is a big problem, and everybody shares the blame in that, but the responsibility comes in fixing it, not assessing the blame.
-Maine alternate delegate Ken Fredette of Newport, a lawyer, interviewed by Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org.
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