March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Longley urges halt to defense trimming> Dutremble chided on cuts, workers’ comp

SACO — Republican James Longley Jr. continued his assault on Democratic candidate Dennis “Duke” Dutremble on Friday in their battle to win the 1st Congressional District seat being vacated by Tom Andrews. Polls and observers have rated the race as a tossup in the last days before the election.

Longley, the son of Maine’s only independent governor, stood outside Saco Defense Inc. on Friday and charged Dutremble with advocating defense cuts in a district that is already hurting. SDI President Bruce A. Makas said the plant, which manufactures machine guns for the military, has dropped from 800 workers in 1989 to 400.

Longley said: “Defense has already been cut by 40 percent in real terms in a still dangerous world. American troops are now deployed to Haiti and Kuwait and are committed to Bosnia, northern Iraq, Somalia and Rwanda. North Korea and Israel have become hot spots. Our military has lowered readiness and made excessive cuts in training and maintenance.

“Now is not the time for additional cuts in defense,” said Longley, who has served 18 years in the Marine Corps, including five years of active duty.

Dutremble “cannot have it both ways. He can’t pretend to support local bases and industries and at the same time call for more and more cuts. Dutremble’s ideas won’t work and they will mean lost jobs for Maine,” Longley said.

While Dutremble trumpets his political experience, which includes 16 years in the Legislature and his work as Senate president, Longley replies that Augusta has failed to come to terms with a Workers’ Compensation system that is driving jobs south.

On a tour Friday of Shape Co., a videocassette manufacturing firm, managers told Longley that 400 jobs were shipped to Alabama as a result of Maine’s anti-business climate. The plant has plans to double capacity at the Saco Industrial Park, but cannot afford to because of the excessive cost of Workers’ Compensation.

Sen. William Cohen, R-Maine, who campaigned with Longley on Friday, said the state has become a “10 percent partner” in his father’s Bangor bakery through Workers’ Compensation costs. “I support Jim because he is a good man. I have known him a long time. He will be a fine congressman,” Cohen said.

Longley said the programs passed in Dutremble’s Senate are coming back to haunt him. In Dutremble’s home town, the Biddeford town hall was painted by a New Hampshire company because Maine companies could not compete in the bidding because of Workers’ Compensation costs. Fleet Bank hired a New Hampshire firm for work because of cheaper bids, Longley said.

Saco Defense also considered leaving the state, Makas said. But he praised Gov. John McKernan for “sacrificing his political career” to make changes in Workers’ Compensation. Those changes, plus an aggressive in-house safety campaign, have dramatically lowered SDI’s business costs, he said.

“We are committed to staying in Maine now,” Makas said. The firm lowered military weapons sales from 100 percent to 50 percent when it won the contract to manufacture the Weatherby rifle, “the Cadillac of hunting rifles,” Makas said. Saco Defense dates to 1813 and is the primary supplier of the M2 and M60 machine guns and MK19 grenade launchers.

The company president said the firm was “a typical, fat federal contractor which went up to the public trough” before it slimmed down to meet the demands of competitive markets.

Longley, who has fired virtually every small arms weapon in the Marine arsenal, toured the Weatherby arm of the Saco Defense operation. “Jim understands what we are and why we are important. He understands that the role of a congressman is to help his district. We don’t expect him to be our lobbyist, but we expect him to establish a level playing field,” Makas said.

A few months ago, many belittled the Longley campaign, with its lack of money and political experience. But on the last weekend of a campaign that he describes as “the most insane experience” of his life, Longley, outspent 3-1, finds himself in a dead heat. He has stuck to his tax cut, strong defense message. Now people are starting to listen, he said.


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