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home > radio > maine news > news story Maine NewsCandidate Profile: Professor John Frary Partly by design and partly by default, John Frary has emerged as the Republican Party's best hope of defeating incumbent Democrat Mike Michaud in the race for Maine's second congressional district. The retired assistant professor and Farmington native seems to enjoy the political spotlight and has crafted a campaign that blends curmudgeon politics with a touch of 1920s vaudeville. A.J. Higgins has this profile in the second of a series as part of MPBN's "Your Vote 2008" coverage. "And Now For Something Completely Different" That signature phrase from "Monty Python's Flying Circus" was also the title of the comedy troupe's first movie. But this year, it's being borrowed by John Frary, whose Republican campaign for Maine's northern Second Congressional District vacillates between partisan pot shots at his opponent and slapstick comedy. On this day the 67-year-old retired college professor is making a stop at Bryant's Stove and Music in Thorndike. Bandying a cane and wearing a flat-brimmed hat that is occasionally substituted for a straw skimmer, Frary seems right at home amid Joe Bryant's century-old collection of music machines from the vaudeville era. But Frary insists that his interest in the subject and this campaign stop in no way reflects his political ambitions. “I think I am the most serious candidate in the State of Maine.” Many of Maine's more prominent Republicans maintain a healthy distance from Frary who has personally loaned or donated $126,000 of the $132,000 that he reported to the Federal Election Commission in June. Although some GOP luminaries like house minority leader Josh Tardy and former gubernatorial candidate Peter Mills have voiced support for Frary, large numbers of Republicans are not contributing to his campaign. Frary denies that the absence of those contributions imply a frivolous bid. “And I may be the most serious candidate in the whole United States. I am just not a solemn candidate and I refuse to take the common political ploys solemnly either. In fact, part of my campaign is to heap scorn and ridicule upon all the usual sound bites. And the fear tactics and the sentimental slush.” Frary says his interest in running for the Second Congressional District was spurred after it became apparent to him that no other Republicans had surfaced to challenge Democratic incumbent Michael Michaud. Michaud, a former state legislator and mill worker from East Millinocket has found himself on the receiving end of his opponent's jabs in newspaper ads and television commercials. Rather than attack Michaud's congressional record or policy positions, Frary dismisses his opponent in a wholesale fashion that some Democrats think borders on meanness. “Mike Michaud is a nice fellow. He isn’t worth much of anything as a Congressman. You go and get one of his leaflets passed out at all these Democrat tables and you’ll find one of the things he can boast of is he authored a Constitutional amendment. I said well, that’s impressive. I was so inspired that I wrote up three Constitutional amendments before breakfast. I said, what the hell does it mean he ‘authored’ a constitutional amendment? Nobody’s heard of it. No state legislature ever passed it. He just authored it. Anybody can do that.” Frary admits that his campaign deals as much with philosophy as it does issues. “The issue I’ve so climbed on to is the fact that we do have a Congress which has a seven percent approval rating, or nine, seven, whatever it is. And this is historically low and it was a good idea to kick a couple hundred of these people out. Now I can’t kick 200 hundred of them out. But this guy’s in my sites, so I’ll see what I can do to disencumber him.” At the stove and music museum in Thorndike, Frary's strategy seems reasonable to proprietor Joe Bryant who assesses the candidate's chances with well-meaning ambivalence. “He couldn’t be no worse then some we’ve got.” Other issues for Frary include the legalization of marijuana which he says should be taxed and regulated since the country is clearly not winning the war on drugs. He favors nuclear power, the reestablishment of hydroelectric dams on rivers over the objection of conservationists whom he refers to as enviro-kooks. And he disputes scientific evidence that people and industry are contributing to global warming. “At any point, the climate of their Planet Earth is either warming or cooling. It is not stable. It has never been stable. One thing that annoys me about this debate is every time global warming is mentioned it’s in the context that it must be man made. There is no must be about that, historically speaking.” While other political candidates encourage the development of new alternative green energy sources, Frary proposes the construction of an oil refinery in Aroostook County. The general lack of enthusiasm for the project doesn't surprise him. “I think both the Republican and Democratic Congressional delegation are reluctant to stir up the environmentalists, who are very, very strong in this State. So, since I’m not planning in a long-term political career at my age, I said ‘what the hell, I’ll put it on the table, get a discussion going. The price of oil remains unstable, or moving upwards and in a couple of years people will certainly be ready for this project, at least look at it seriously.’” Like the 19th-Century instruments he admires at Bryant's Stove and Music Museum, Frary hopes his old-fashioned common sense approach to campaigning will carry him to Washington in what he has characterized as his own "Last Hurrah."
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