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home > radio > maine news > news story Maine NewsSummers Takes New Approach in Second Bid for Congress He's one of about two dozen veterans running for Congress this year. And much of his campaign in Maine was conducted while he was out of the country serving a one-year assignment in the Navy Reserves in Iraq. This is Republican candidate Charlie Summers' second bid for a U.S. House seat in Maine’s First District. But his resume and life experiences have been re-written since his 2004 campaign. And in the latest installment of our Your Vote 2008 candidate profiles, Summers says he's running for one basic reason: he wants to help people. Not only does he want to help people, but Summers says he wants to get to know them. So the former Maine state senator, regional business administrator and state director for U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe has set a campaign goal: work on 30 different jobs in the first district over the next few weeks. "You know, people - they need somebody who's willing to be responsive and responsible in Congress and I've done that as a member of the State Senate when I was elected down here in Saco and Old Orchard Beach; I was the first Republican ever elected in that district and I believe I got elected because I worked harder and was responsive to the needs of my constituency." So far, Summers has tried his hand at what he calls "30 different jobs": logging, picked corn and beans, scooped ice cream, brewed beer and, on this day, braided rope at the Sterling Rope factory in Biddeford where he was recently welcomed by the company's president Carolyn Broadsky. "There are some Republicans here. There are some Democrats here. I, myself, am an Independent. And I am supporting Charlie because I feel he has a very strong voice and is a very strong advocate for small business. He’s been a small business owner. He's walked a mile in my shoes. He's had to meet payroll, he’s had to pay bills and he’s had to keep customers happy." Summers grew up in Illinois where his family ran a hotel and where he learned everything from making beds to tending bar. After moving to Maine he managed a pair of motels in Bangor and South Portland and then later opened his own business called "Charlie’s Beverage Warehouse". Summers says Maine is a difficult place to do business. He told the Sterling Rope crowd he wants to create a friendly environment for innovative entrepreneurs by removing burdensome regulations, simplifying the tax code and supporting small business health plans. "Which would allow small business across the country to ban together to get group discounts on health care." And Summers says he would also introduce legislation to make the cost of health care 100 percent deductible for every American. "That's real money in peoples' pockets and I think what that would do is bring more insurance companies into Maine. I think we really only have one private insurer in Maine right now. We would have more insurance companies in Maine and in the United States participating which would bring competition which would drive costs down." For two years, Summers was the regional administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration. He oversaw the SBA's financing, marketing and outreach in six states, including Maine. And it is this experience combined with his business-friendly policies that have earned him the endorsement of the National Federation of Independent Businesses. And the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Jeff O'Hara is the executive director for the Chamber's Eastern Region Division. “Whether it’s reducing the abundant regulatory burden that comes out of Washington, D.C., whether it's fighting for lower taxes, whether it’s supporting elimination of the death tax to allow small businesses to be handed down from one generation to the next, we think there’s no clearer choice in Maine One that Charlie Summers is the candidate to do that." O'Hara says the Chamber also likes Summers' energy policy: It calls for domestic drilling, including off the coast of Maine, if necessary, as well as development of alternative sources like wind, solar, hydrogen and even nuclear. Despite critics' insistence that domestic drilling will do little to help wean the U.S. from its gas guzzling addiction and that it won't lower prices at the pump by more than a few cents for many years to come, Summers says it will provide a bridge to the future. "It's not the answer to our energy problems but it's a step forward. When the President announced he was rescinding the executive moratorium on drilling, oil dropped $18 a barrel almost overnight and I think when the Congress follows suit with that, you'll see at least a commensurate drop in oil and people will see it both at the pump and in their home heating oil very, very soon." And when it comes to taxpayers, Wall Street and a possible $700 billion bailout, Summers had this to say at a news conference this week: "I am here today to say that it is time to clean up Washington. It is time to make certain that the taxpayers are protected in this process; that the oversight - the necessary oversight of the United Congress is guaranteed in this process." Summers says he's skeptical of most big government solutions, including the proposed Wall Street bailout. In general, he describes himself as a person who prefers to focus on what unites people rather than divides them. He's a pro-choice candidate; supports civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, and on a personal level knows what it's like to suffer loss. His wife was killed in a car accident in 1997. Their children were just 11 and 8 when she died. Summers says there were days it was difficult to get out of bed. "I don't you know that you ever come to terms with a loss like that but I mean I had terrific people helping me starting with my family, my late wife's family, certainly Olympia Snowe, my employer and then this person to my right came into my life." That person is Ruth Summers, the woman he met in the Naval Reserves and who later became his second wife. Summers says he feels blessed to have been given a second chance, and hopes his second race for Congress against Democrat Chellie Pingree will be a success.
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