By Robert E. Macdonald

Mayor of Lewiston

“I am not a Portland Democrat!” bellowed Lewiston Democratic State Representative Jared Golden. But his actions and votes in Augusta would garner him an Academy Award for acting like one.

He is being urged to run for Congress by the progressive leadership of Maine’s Democratic Party, hoping that his combat service in Iraq and Afghanistan (for which I hold him in high regard) will mask his progressive political leanings in Augusta.

He has combined his legislative experience and his service in the Marine Corps to figuratively blow a hole in Maine’s effort, which is overwhelmingly supported in Maine’s Second Congressional District, to deny benefits to undocumented illegal aliens. His vote has placed an unnecessary burden on Maine taxpayers and certain service cities (Lewiston being one) to bear the cost of these undocumented individuals so that Maine’s privileged progressives in the First Congressional District could ease their guilt.

Rep. Golden’s Lewiston legislative district is heavily populated with Bates College academics and other highly educated people who see and live in a different world—a world that is foreign to the greater majority of working-class people who live in Lewiston. Their world consists of getting up each morning and going to work to support their families.

These Lewistonians are villainized because they believe in the Second Amendment, which protects their right to own and bear a firearm. They are made sport of because they choose life for all and oppose Margaret Sanger’s philosophy of killing those who are looked down upon and considered a drain on society. Progressives even go out of their way to mock those of us who worship and believe in God.

The progressive wing of the Democratic Party looks on us as “deplorables.” Howard Dean, former National Chair of the Democratic Party and one-time Presidential candidate, put it plainly and bluntly when he stated there was no place in the Democratic Party for anyone who is pro-life.

The Lewiston Sun Journal reported on August 31 that Golden vows he “won’t hide his politics like our current Second District Republican U.S. Representative Bruce Poliquin.” Really?

During the prior legislative session, Maine legislators debated how to proceed with legislation to continue supporting and providing taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal aliens. Golden published a lengthy editorial in the Bangor Daily News, explaining why he favored it and would vote for the legislation. At the same time, nothing appeared in the Sun Journal, which voters from Lewiston-Auburn and the surrounding towns depend on for their news, about his reasons why he voted for this legislation.

Why would Golden be explaining his reasons to vote for this legislation to the people of Bangor, who live 106 miles north of Lewiston? Why did his article not appear locally? These questions, I believe, he is obligated to answer.

One final note: this legislation passed. Former Rep. Peggy Rotundo joined Heidi Brooks and Jared Golden in voting for it. Senator Nate Libby and former Rep. Michel Lajoie voted against it. As a Lewiston taxpayer, who do you think cast the wisest vote?