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Robert Wesells / Shenna Bellows- Segment 3 · Newsradio WGAN

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You've counted on Inside Maine for over 20 years for smart
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political talk and real conversations with the state's
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leaders on 98.5 FM, AM 560 and wgan.com.
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We're back, it's inside Maine. We're spending the day talking
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to candidates for governor. You know, Jeremy, usually this
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time I've had maybe one guest. So far I've had two.
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We're going to do 2 more of this segment, another the next.
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It's a lot. It's a lot, but that's what we
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do here inside Maine. That's how we stay at the
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forefront of political consciousness.
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One programming note, Hannah Pingree wasn't able to confirm
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for today, so you can catch her on next week when Sean Moody is
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the host, he'll speak to Hannah Pingree.
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So she was the one candidate we couldn't schedule during the
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times I was hosting, but you can catch her with Sean.
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Sean sent me A to thank me for booking him a guest with whom he
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vehemently disagrees. So very pleased though to be
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able to bring the guest that did have time for today, including
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our next guest. He's probably been running the
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longest. For this office, it is Robert
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Wessels. Robert, welcome back to INSIDE
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Maine. Hey, thank you for having me.
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Really appreciate being on Inside Main Aaron.
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So like I said, you've been at this the longest of any of the
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candidates in the field starting a couple of years ago.
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We're now at the point where people are all paying attention.
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It's the it's the final stretch. What is your closing argument,
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number one? And then give us a sense of how
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you're going to breakthrough and actually win this nomination.
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Yeah, so I have been campaigning.
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We are pushing three years. We officially went public in
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July of 2023 and Oh my, things have changed over the last three
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years, you know, from really, as you said it, you know, people
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weren't paying attention too much specifically to the
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governor's race, obviously the way back then.
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But really in general, the conversations that I've been
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having have changed things that that people wouldn't talk about
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3 years ago. We're having really good lively
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conversations around the state on it.
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And so my closing arguments as we wrap into the last, you know,
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3 1/2 weeks, ultimately, I'm going to say, you know, the
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state of Maine is hurting right now.
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Even my Democrat counterparts admit to that when we're in
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discussions and forums together, whether you're talking about
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energy, property taxes, housing, cost of living.
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The problem is, is they double down and say, hey, we just need
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more money. And that's what they're doing is
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they're out of control. I think it's interesting to also
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call out that Angus King is the only Democrat candidate that
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hasn't been directly involved in creating this mess.
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And so I would urge any of your independence that are listening
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on enrolled, that are listening to, you know, if they're
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struggling, if they're looking at this economy, don't vote
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Democrat in November. Take a look at the Republican
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side. We have some amazing candidates
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or we will have one amazing candidate in November.
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I hope to make that be me. But we really need a governor
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who brings business sense and common sense to the Blaine
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House. I would also make the argument
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that as I've been talking to thousands of people around the
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state, that really the people in Maine are feeling like our
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government is really, really out of touch with us, the everyday
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people and with reality. And so we need, we need a
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governor that is, you know, from among the people.
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I am an everyday business guy, which is why I started three
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years ago because I was smart enough to realize it.
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Nobody knows Robert Wessel is outside of Oxford Hills and I
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don't have a ton of money. And so I, I did have time at
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that point. And I will say that was a great
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campaign move. It's worked well and, and my
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name is out there now. So for those who don't know,
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I've been in retail management for the last 20 years and we do
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own a small family farm here in, in South Paris.
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But I would also make the argument that, you know, when I
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when my electricity bill goes from $168 to 353 like it has in
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the last couple years, I feel that and that impacts the way I
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would run things in Augusta and the decisions that I realized
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need to be made. So I would also lastly, just
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make the make the argument that we need an outsider in Augusta,
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somebody who's not wrapped up in the way it has always been, but
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is willing to, who's willing to look outside the box and say,
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OK, like it, you know, maybe by its own is the best way.
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Perfectly fine with that. But let's look outside that box
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for those solutions and and let's consider things that we
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haven't considered before because clearly what we're doing
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and what we have been doing, especially in the last eight
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years hasn't been working. Now, our last guest that was on
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on the program made the same argument.
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It was Jonathan Bush, it was here in studio and he said we
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need an outsider. This is an election for an
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outsider. You made news in the last couple
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weeks where you, I, and maybe you can clear up for me what it
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is that you did or didn't do because you accepted a role in
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the Jonathan Bush for governor campaign, but you're still
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running against him, but you're not endorsing him.
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But you do like what? Clear it up for me.
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Happy to clear that up. Thank you for mentioning it and
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giving me that opportunity. So, yeah, I'll be honest.
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When Jonathan Bush launched his campaign, you know, as far as
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frank choice voting goes, he was at the bottom of mine.
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I was like, no, no, not a Bush. And over time, you know, as I've
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rubbed shoulders with all of these guys on, you know, from
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once on and he's just slowly climbed, climbed.
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In my opinion, he is a small government guy.
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And I really agree. He and I see eye to eye with
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really the path forward economically, business wise and
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government wise. They're both small government
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guys. There are many things that we
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disagree on, you know, and you know, some of those are your
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your social issues and things like that.
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And so I was faced with the decision because, as you know,
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anybody would know not polling well.
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And so ultimately I I was faced with the decision.
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Do you get out? Do you jump onto somebody else's
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campaign? Do you?
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And I said, no, I'm a different enough candidate and I have a
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lot of things that, you know, only I have and, and people are
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looking for. And so I'm going to stay in.
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However, if if I don't get in, I want another small government
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guy. And so I basically I came out in
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the public and said I will be giving my second, my ranked
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choice voting second vote to Jonathan Bush.
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And so yes, that did make news. That is not normal.
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But I guess that's what happens when you have non politicians
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running for governor. So what do you think is the most
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important thing for people to know?
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What really sets you apart? You said you're an outsider,
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you're a normal guy or a business guy.
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But like, what would you do differently as governor than any
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of these other candidates you're running against?
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Again, I would make the argument that as the outsider, as the
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everyday guy with common sense, I'm going to be just like I do
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in the business world, right? Looking at the problems with a
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different lens, a different perspective and being willing to
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try some outside the box solutions, right?
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No matter what it is the other thing that I think the other
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thing that I think really matters is again, just that,
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that approach and that willingness to be able to, to,
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to look at it and do things differently at my campaign, you
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know, and I think you would agree for sure has, has not been
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your traditional campaign And, and I'm perfectly happy with
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that. I, I'm OK and my governorship
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would be the same thing. Again, we continue to build and
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create bureaucracy. Every time I hear a solution,
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people are like, Oh, well, we need to add this committee, We
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need to add this. And no, like clearly a big
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government is just, it's not efficient and it's costly and
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it's not effective and it's not working.
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So we have to do something different.
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So final question for you, Robert, thinking about where we
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are in this race, there started to be a lot of negative attack
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ads and attacks going on between the top candidates, right?
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I had Bobby Charles and Jonathan Bush on before you.
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Ben Midgley's in the mix there. You, you see the attacks
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flowing. I'm, I'm sure Garrett too,
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right? So with, with them, they're
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attacked. How do Republicans unite after
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the primaries over the ballots are counted or ranked or run off
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or whatever happens when a winner emerges?
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How will Republicans, how should Republicans unite to then win
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the governorship in November? My personal opinion is we pick a
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gubernatorial candidate who hasn't been doing all of that
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stuff and who is gets along well with all of the candidates and
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would very easily be able to unite us.
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And that would be me. Obviously, I haven't gotten into
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the weeds. And to me, we need as a party,
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we need to focus on the other side and the solutions that we
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offer. That being said, no matter, and
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I know there's some with a couple debates ago, there was
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some Flack for for this. But the reality is, you know, no
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matter who wins the primary, I am on board.
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Let's go. All seven Republican candidates
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are far and away better for Maine than the five Democratic
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candidates on the other side. And I, you have my commitment.
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If I'm not chosen as a gubernatorial candidate, I will
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offer my services to the person who is.
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Because Maine, it's all about Maine.
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It's not about me. Never has been.
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And Maine needs a Republican governor in November.
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Well, I think that's a good sentiment.
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I think it's the right argument. Robert Wessels, Republican
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candidate for governor. If people want to learn more
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about your candidacy and your campaign, where can they go?
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Yeah, go to voterobertwessels.com.
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That is my website and also Facebook X Instagram kind of all
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the socials. And you were cutting out a
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little bit for a second. So say that website one more
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time. I want to make sure people got
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it. Yeah, thank you.
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Vote robertwessels.com. Gorobertwessels.com Robert
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Wessels, candidate for Covener. Thank you so much for being back
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with us on Inside Main. Good luck as you race toward the
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finish line. Thank you.
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We're sprinting towards the end. Aaron, have a great day.
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Have a great rest of your day. You're listening to INSIDE Main.
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I'm your host, Aaron Chadbourne. We are spending this Saturday,
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just like we did last week, talking to gubernatorial
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candidates. So far today, we've had three of
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the Republicans and now is kind of where we're going to reset
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and talk to some people on the other side of the aisle.
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So let me talk to you about what we have planned coming up to
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fill out the rest of this segment.
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We're awaiting a call from Maine Secretary of State Shanna
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Bellows. She, of course, is a Democrat
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who is running for the Democrat nomination to be governor.
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After Secretary Bellows will have a doctor, Nirav Shah in
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studio. So we'll get to speak with
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Doctor Shaw. For those of you who've been
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listening to me all year, you'll know that he's the only
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candidate, the only major candidate that I have not spoken
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to yet. So he will complete my New
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Year's resolution that I sat with Jeremy.
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And then in the 12:00 hour, we'll talk first with State
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Senator Rick Bennett, who will be joining us.
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He's an independent running for governor.
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And we'll close the show in the 12:30 segment with former State
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Senator Troy Jackson. He's a Democrat, he's a social.
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They just announced that Bernie Sanders is coming to town to
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stump with him and Graham Plattner once again.
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So that's going to be how we spend the rest of our show.
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We have those, you know, 3 down, 4 to go in terms of how many
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candidates we've gotten through today.
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And I think it's great. And for those of you who've been
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texting in your questions, just know I am reading them as I have
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my computer up, as I'm having the conversations.
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So if you have questions that you would like me to get in
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front of the candidates as they come on, please text them in.
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It's 207-879-9426. Is the text line.
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Joining us now? You know her.
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She's main Secretary of State. She's a Democrat candidate for
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governor. Please join me in welcoming back
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to the program. Shanna Bellow Shadow, welcome
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back to INSIDE. Main Good morning.
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It's always a pleasure to be on your show.
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So, Senator, I want to ask you the question.
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I see, Senator, old habits die hard.
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I was a senator, you know that. I represented central Maine.
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I represented a district and voted for Donald Trump and voted
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for me. I used to have to stand in front
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of you and answer your question. See how the tables have turned.
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You know, I'll always answer your questions.
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Well, so we've been asking people to text in and there's,
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there's one question I kind of want to unpack because people
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have said they've they've seen your commercials and I know
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you've gotten a lot of mileage out of standing up to Donald
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Trump telling him to go jump in the Gulf of Maine.
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There's this kind of attitude and atmosphere out there right
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now when it comes to Democrats and Republicans.
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And I think you you've spent a lot of time in Augusta and I'm
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sure you've seen the change since you've been there.
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And here we are now at a point where the Democrats over the
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last several sessions have passed majority only budgets.
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There are Republicans in elected office or there might be
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Republicans or independents out there that worry if the next
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governor is a Democrat. They might shut out all external
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perspectives. And we realize that you have to
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be strong against Donald Trump in order to win a primary.
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But here's the question, when you become governor, how can
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people have different points of view than yours feel that their
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views would be represented in a Bellows administration?
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I love that question. And we've known each other for a
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long time. And so, you know that my work
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ethic has always been about diverse perspectives.
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And in fact, you know, I have been standing up to Trump.
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I have been protecting Mainers voter data.
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I have been pushing back against ICE.
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However, at the very same time I've been modernizing our
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elections and the beer motor vehicles and while the general
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fund budgets, those budgets for education and healthcare and
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other programs have been majority only under Governor
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Mills and I'm not part of the Mills administration.
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The Secretary of State is completely independent because
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the Secretary of State is elected by the Legislature.
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Of course, the transportation budget is separate from the rest
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of the budget and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles budget that is
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included initiative to bring new online services like online
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renewals of REAL ID, for example, bringing appointments
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to the BMD, bringing a new mobile unit for the BMV like a
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BMV branch and a truck that we deployed to Belfast and Dover,
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Foxcroft and Holton. Those budgets that I have
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proposed, I've worked closely with Republicans like Senator
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Brad Ferran and Representative Wayne Perry so that we have had
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unanimous support for all of my budgets.
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And so my commitment to Republicans when I am governor
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and I I think I will win the primary and I think I'll win in
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November, is that I will always have an open door for every good
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idea. And I want to work on bipartisan
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budgets and bipartisan legislation.
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It's what I've done as secretary, and I think it
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actually sets me apart from other folks in this race because
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you don't have to just take my word for it.
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Look at my record as secretary. Look, look at my record.
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And you were in the Le Page administration.
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And in my first term as a state senator, I was representing a
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Trump district. And I brought bills that didn't
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get support from the governor, but I brought one bill.
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And I was to streamline medical licensing because Governor Le
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Page was concerned about the lack of doctors in our state.
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I am, too. I still think it's an issue.
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And we wanted to update the licensing process and make it
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more efficient. And I was really delighted that
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he ended up supporting that bill and we got it passed into law.
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And so I think that those are a couple of examples of how I've
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worked really closely with Republicans in the past.
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And it's it's why, you know, yesterday after the debate on
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Thursday night, I, you know, a long time Republican former
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candidate for federal office texted me and said, you did a
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great job. We need to get coffee sometime
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soon. Well, I noticed you.
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You've mentioned at that debate and again here this morning that
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you're not in the Mills administration, which I think
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says something about the population of our current
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governor. But two things that people that
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listen to my show are concerned about under this administration
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has been the reports of Medicaid fraud and also the reports of
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the the proliferation of no bid contracts that have been awarded
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by the Mills administration. What specifically would you do
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to address those two concerns? We need 0 tolerance for fraud
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and no bid contracts are a real problem.
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And honestly our procurement system needs complete reform.
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How we're wasting for example, millions of dollars on an out of
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state company for non-emergency transportation.
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This is for seniors and people with disabilities.
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This company's not doing its job.
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I've heard from folks all across the state that get stranded and
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if they miss more than three doctors appointments then they
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lose their their doctor, they lose their provider.
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So that's an example of waste in government that needs reform.
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And I think my experience as Secretary of State shows that
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you can find savings. I've found millions of dollars
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of savings in the DMV, turned it back into streamlining, cutting
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red tape, making things more efficient for businesses and for
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our customers. And I think that's what we need
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to do now when it comes to fraud, we should be auditing
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every single program where taxpayer funds are being spent
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and we need to make sure that there is no waste, abuse or
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fraud. We as secretary, I brought post
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election audits to Maine. We didn't used to have post
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election audits and now we do. I partnered with the legislature
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to do that. I also oversee very strict
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audits of our license and ID transactions at the BMV.
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That is extraordinarily important.
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I take cybersecurity really important, really highly
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importantly. And the national level.
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I've shared a bipartisan election security and
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cybersecurity security working group and in Maine, I'm I serve
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on the Cyber Security Advisory Council and, and we need to make
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sure that we are using taxpayer dollars effectively.
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That's really important. You mentioned the election
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audits and the integrity. The one other question that our
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listeners wanted me to ask you is obviously the Secretary of
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State Overseas elections. You're on the ballot this time.
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Some people have suggested that you should step away from that.
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You should take a leave of absence.
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What do you say to people who have that concern?
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Obviously, if there's a ranked choice tabulation, are we going
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to see you standing in the election counting room providing
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us with the updates? Or why is it that you feel it's
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appropriate to oversee an election when you're on the
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ballot? You will not see me on the live
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stream stream at the Ranked Choice voting tabulation nor
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have I been part of the day-to-day operations of
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elections. There is strong checks and
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balances in our system. Many secretaries including
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Republican Secretary Charlie Summers for the late and amazing
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Democratic Secretary Bill Diamond have run for office
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while being on the ballot. Of course, the last secretary to
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run for governor in Maine and when was Governor Ken Ker.
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And so those checks and balances have been established over time.
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And Deputy Secretary Julie Flynn, who is our elections
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director and in charge of the elections, she is the nation's
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nation's longest serving election director.
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She's been doing this for over 30 years.
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She served under Democrats and Republican Charlie Summers.
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She knows exactly what she's doing.
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And those those lines are very clear.
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However, I'm not going to step down because it's such an
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important moment for the states to be standing out for state
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sovereignty and for protecting election data.
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And I think that is where I am at the forefront.
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I've helped organize a coalition of 30 states.
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And it's not just blue states that are standing up for the
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sovereignty of the states because the Constitution places
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the states, not the federal government, in charge of
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elections. It's red states like Idaho and
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West Virginia and Kentucky. You know, I recently did a
20:36
public television appearance with the Kentucky secretary,
20:39
Secretary of State about the importance and the checks and
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balances on our elections. So you'll also look around the
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country and, and secretaries like he, him, Michael Adams, and
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in fact, most secretaries around the country are actually elected
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on the ballots that they're overseeing.
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So these checks and balances aren't unique to Maine.
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They're long standing and well established.
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So now we have about a minute left, what is the closing
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argument you would like to make? The people who haven't made a
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decision yet of who they want to support and where can they go to
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find out more about your campaign?
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They should check out Bellows for maine.com.
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And I am running to protect democracy and deliver on
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affordability. I'm the only candidate in the
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race who has three things. I'll fight for the working class
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because I grew up working class in Down East Maine.
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I have legislative experience representing a Trump district in
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the legislature and executive experience saving money and
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getting things done to modernize the BMV in elections.
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And if I can modernize, the DMVI can modernize anything.
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I mean, it's definitely got your work cut out for you, Shannon.
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We appreciate having you on and wish you the best in the final
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Sprint of the campaign. Thanks for being on and we'll
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have you on election night or when you're the candidate.
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Yes, I look forward to that and I look forward to being on again
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when I'm governor. Thanks so much.
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Take care. Thanks, Secretary Bellows, that
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was state of Maine. Secretary of State Shanna Bello,
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she's Democrat candidate for governor.
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When we come back, we will be joined here in studio.
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I see him in the room right now, Doctor Nirav Shah, one of the
22:07
other Democrat candidates for governor.
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Later in the show, we'll have Rick Bennett, the Independent.
22:12
And we'll close the show with Troy Jackson.
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I'm Aaron Shadborn. This is inside Maine.