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Shawn Moody- Segment 6 · Newsradio WGAN

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  For over 2 decades, Inside Maine has been your trusted source for
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  political analysis and candid conversations with Maine's most
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  influential leaders, bringing you the issues that matter most,
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  straight from the experts on 98.5 FM, AM 560, and wgan.com.
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  Thank you, Jeremy, and welcome back to the Inside Maine.
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  I'm your host Sean Moody today. It's beautiful day in Maine and
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  we've been talking a lot of shop here today.
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  We just talking to Kenny Chin cap if you want to go on.
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  I think he said it was Kenny Chinkat for Senate.
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  If you'd like to donate or participate, He'd love to have
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  the support. He's running for the the
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  district of Windham and some of Westbrook, Sebago, Frye Island.
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  I think he said Standish. So that's a big area.
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  Lot of good people in that area. And the podcast is not up yet,
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  but it will be it will be shortly after the show is done.
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  Appreciate it, Jeremy. All right, we'll go to the final
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  homestretch here. If you want to join the program.
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  We were trying to solicit calls on it.
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  What do you think's going to happen a couple weeks, two weeks
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  from Tuesday is the the primary for both the Republicans and the
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  Democrats in a lot of offices. So should be interesting.
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  879-9426 got an opinion, got a candidate that you want to put a
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  plug in for or any candidates out there that want to call?
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  We had a couple call in 879-9426.
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  You're welcome to have a few minutes on air to say where,
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  what you're running for, who you are, a little bit about
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  yourself. Give a call 879-9426.
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  Yeah. I think, you know, we talked
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  earlier about the state of the state.
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  I don't want to get people to skirt it as beautiful Memorial
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  Day weekend. It's the thing it that it's hard
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  to do describe to somebody or I guess project to somebody is
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  that not unlike the federal government where our budget is
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  just continually increased and the deficit is increased in
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  Maine, we've got to operate on a biannual balanced budget.
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  Now how that budget gets balanced, OK, there's, so
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  there's some magic in, in all of that.
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  And there's often times where they do supplemental budgets,
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  which means they've overspent and they need to get more money
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  appropriated. And at some point, OK, the well
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  runs dry and that's when tax increases hit.
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  In this last round, they increased taxes on small
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  businesses or businesses in Maine 2828%.
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  Not many people know that. They call it a 2% surcharge, but
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  28% increase in the pass through entity business taxes here in
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  the state of Maine they did not allow, OK, they rejected no tax
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  on tips. They rejected no tax on
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  overtime. So that has a big economic drag
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  on Maine's economy because that money would have gone into the
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  pockets of hard work and Maine is which would have spent that
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  money. So that's how you generate
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  economic activity and stimulate activity is through tax
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  incentives. And that would have been a big
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  economic boost here in the state of Maine.
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  We got Thad Cohen on line 2. Thad, welcome to INSIDE Main.
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  Well Shawnee welcome fantastic show with.
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  Always. Jeez, I'm glad you called, Ted.
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  I know I saw you call right at the end of a break back, so I'm
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  glad you called back. Well, I think Ken was doing a
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  magnificent job on on on your show.
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  That guy certainly would be my vote for sure.
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  Fatty, what do you think of the, you know, the, the races in in
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  Maine on the gubernatorial race, you know, we got the Democrat
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  line up, we got the Republican line up.
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  It's like. Coming to an head here.
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  I think, Johnny, what you just said was previous before you
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  taking my phone call is about everything that the legislature
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  didn't do, but yet they passed the supplemental budget.
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  So my answer to one of your questions is I suddenly wouldn't
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  vote for anybody that voted for the supplemental budget.
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  It would be that that simple, especially with $155,000,000
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  going back to affordable checks, the $300 check per person that
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  that qualifies, that's just ridiculous.
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  I know you don't say I don't even how just constitutionally
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  they're allowed to do. It's the rain, it's the state
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  budget stabilization fund. So I think just that that title
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  alone tells you that it's for an economic downturn or something,
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  some way to have, you know, a rainy day fund, they call it
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  whatever, but you know, funds available in cases an economic
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  downturn, not just discriminate what he's saying we're going to
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  take 2 or 300 million and hand some money out.
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  I just, I don't know how they pull that off.
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  Well, Shawny and and again I know of 1 legislature that again
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  had proposed to eliminate electricity sales tax to a
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  certain part of what we paid sales tax on now and that didn't
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  even pass. Yeah, yeah.
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  And then? Not serious.
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  Though lowering those costs, Eddie, well, you got to, you
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  know, Fatty, you're on the right track because, you know, we're
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  talking about the gubernatorial primary, which is important.
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  But really what you're saying is if we don't, if we don't change
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  the chairs of the Legislature, we're, we're sunk.
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  I I think in how this behooves me to no end, Janet Mills.
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  Governor Mills lambasted Grand Platinum lately.
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  She's the one that started with the nasty ads right off the get
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  go. Now how in the world now
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  Democrats that supported Governor Mills can now support
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  Grand Platinum is beyond me. How morally or ethically could
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  you even consider doing something like that?
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  That's a good point, Daddy, right?
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  Yeah. And I don't know.
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  I don't. I'm not aware that Governor
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  Mills has endorsed Grandpa, but she'll be under tremendous
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  pressure to do so. Let's face it that that party is
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  they take no prisoners. Well, Sony, the other thing is
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  how individuals, whether you agree with Senator Collins, she
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  has added more to the state that people don't realize.
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  Can you imagine Graham Plantner sitting down and trying to
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  negotiate deals for Portsmouth Naval Shipyard?
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  Bath Iron works in Jim Bro I I I think the state of Maine would
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  lose so much without Senator Collins continuing for another
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  term. Well, it it just begs the
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  question that I think you saw it.
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  When when that was six years ago now Sarah Gideon, right Sarah
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  Gideon ran against Senator Collins and it had her Sarah
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  Gideon her leading in the polls and this and that and she she
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  was running on. We don't need any a bigger
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  military. We don't need destroyer.
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  You know, she didn't come right out and say we're going to close
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  by fireworks, but basically policy decisions would create
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  that to happen. And you're right grand plan has
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  been the same thing. We don't need this, you know,
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  conflicts and military and that war machine or whatever.
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  So when you think about again, trades jobs, right, Boo collar,
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  Boo collar, Maine just comes up short every single time with
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  these politicians. We we would lose.
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  It would go to Louisiana, it would go to all kinds of other
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  states that would love to build what whatever it is as a
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  governmental contract. And Susan Collins seems to have
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  kept the state going quite well in the right direction by making
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  sure we had those. Yep.
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  No, Daddy, I appreciate you calling in and and now your
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  insights because it's it's going to be interesting.
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  Well. My my best I can you Sony, you
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  said it right? For him to lose and then jump
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  back into the saddle could be him.
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  I hope he makes it. Yeah, thanks.
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  Have have a great weekend. You too.
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  Thank you all. Right, brother.
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  That's my brother Thad. Yeah.
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  I love it when he calls in. He's got, he's got so much
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  insights. Unbelievable.
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  You think about his, his career, he started out at Cook's
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  Hardware in high school, you know, 15-16 years old.
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  And I think at 1918 and 19, he was managing the place.
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  You know, he was, he was assistant manager and then
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  became the manager. They had multiple locations and
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  he, he was with the Cook family for 25 years.
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  And somehow, someway miracle that we got him on board at
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  Moody's and he led our company for 12 years and worked a total
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  of 27 together, which we still work together.
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  He's still working one week a month.
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  So it's it's pretty remarkable run that we've had together.
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  We just did a resort town halls, which that's how we announce the
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  stock price to all our shareholders, which happen to be
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  our Co workers and Danielle, our daughter Danielle now is
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  president of the company. And so she and I jump in the
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  truck and drive all over Maine and our our stock value of last
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  year went up 20%. You know, just, it's pretty
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  extraordinary and I'll tell you just we got 75 people in our
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  leadership that we've developed over, you know, the last decade
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  as we've grown is really the backbone of of our organization.
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  And Thad LED that and then Danielle took over just after
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  COVID and done, done an amazing job.
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  I think we were I think 28 1/2 percent, 25% and 20% in three
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  years. And it's hard to, you know, for
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  business owners or just maybe you know, people owning stocks
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  and own the stock market, what not, you understand how
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  difficult it is to grow a business. 20% is of our, of our
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  size. You know, it's one thing if you
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  got one shop, you had another shop.
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  Well, you could grow 20% pretty easily.
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  But you know, it's, it's, as you scale up, it becomes
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  increasingly difficult. A lot of things got to go right.
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  We got the main, the best places to work recognition last round.
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  I think we're a third. We, we were in the medium duty,
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  medium category up to 250 Co workers.
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  I think it was and I think we placed 4th.
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  I believe I might have this backwards.
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  I think we, I think we were third in the state.
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  And then this last round we're upped.
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  We're almost 300 Co workers now. So we're in a big, big category
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  and we captured 4th. So that's, and again, we're,
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  we're competing against banks and credit unions.
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  You know, we, we, we're starting at 7 and going till 5 and what
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  we do is not easy and we're a Hardy bunch.
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  So to, you know, establish those, those that feedback,
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  those scores are all, it's all done.
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  Those questionnaires are all anonymous.
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  So, you know, our Co workers rank us any way they see fit.
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  And that's exactly why we do it. We want to know how our Co
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  workers feel about how we're being treated.
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  You know how it benefits and packages and what leadership if
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  they have respect and trust in the leadership, they understand
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  the mission of our organization. There's there's about 70
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  questions that they ask. They're they're really pertinent
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  to to the culture of of our company.
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  And then it's an extraordinary process.
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  I I didn't encourage any business to participate in Maine
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  best places to work. It's it's it's really helps you
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  grow and improve your organization.
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  We have Tony call from Standish. Tony, welcome to inside Maine.
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  Thank you. Very much for taking my call.
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  Absolutely. I just had, you know, a few
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  comments as it relates to Graham Plattner and I, I think of his
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  being, and it's come out that he's 100% disabled from the VA.
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  And you know, I, I honor people that served in the military.
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  I, I never did, but I, I think it's, you know, an amazing thing
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  that people volunteer, volunteer a job and they volunteer to
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  defend our country. And I, so I applaud him for
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  that. But to be 100% disabled and then
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  be an oyster farmer, I've looked up what oyster farmers kind of
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  have, what they have to do, and it's an extremely taxing
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  physical job, at least from what I've read.
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  I've read comments by people that have gone into that field
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  and they just say what back breaking work it is.
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  So let's say in Grand Platinus case, it's not physical.
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  It's as to the reason why he has this 100% disability so that
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  it's not physical. It would be PTSD.
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  And then I think to myself, should you have a person sitting
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  in Congress or the Senate? That's one out of 100 votes that
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  has, I guess you'd have to call it a severe case of PTSD, which
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  that tends to people tend to be a little bit unstable if you
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  have that kind of a disability. So I'll leave it at that.
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  I just. Yeah, no surprise.
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  That there hasn't been more. Talked about with that weighing
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  in, yeah, no, I I think, well, I'll let you go Tony, thank you
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  very much for that call. You know, that's a, that's a
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  great, great feedback and great perception because I, I, I think
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  what's happening right now is, you know, that, that these packs
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  are just, you know, attacking one another and attacking
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  Senator Collins as well. So Tony's call is very important
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  because he's bringing us back to some of these questions that
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  should be asked as Tony did really well and describe his
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  opinion on, OK, if it's not this, then what about that?
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  And he's right. That's a very physical activity
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  job. So again, you're just kind of
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  trying to to just give an overview of his condition, not
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  knowing we don't have any medical records to go by.
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  So Tony's just given his opinion, which I agree with what
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  Tony said. So is it is it on the mental
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  health side? And if it is, you know, how do
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  we justify his voters voting for an individual that could be have
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  some mental health challenges that we don't know to what
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  extent? I mean, I, I think you see what
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  they've put in, you know, President Biden through and
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  President Trump through in terms of their ability to serve as
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  president and their mental capacity and the cognitive
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  abilities. We saw obvious decline in
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  President Biden's mental faculties in the last couple of
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  years. And don't you think for one
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  minute, you know, President Trump, they're looking at him,
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  they'd loved him to slip on a step or, you know, something
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  that happened, they could catch that on on film.
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  Are you kidding me? They're ready to pounce on that.
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  So here's a guy that's openly stated that he's 100% disabled,
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  getting compensated for it through the, through the
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  government, which I don't think the government, I the
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  government's from all people that I've talked to is they
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  don't just they don't disqualify you for any level of disability
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  without pretty extensive testing and documentation.
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  They just don't know. It's not giving that out for,
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  you know, they're on it. And so they know there's fraud
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  and there's people who take advantage.
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  So I Tony, I love that call. And I think that just reminds
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  us, let's start looking at the character in the caliber of the
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  individual. It's running for office and they
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  had a, you know, a tattoo on the chess or said a lot of mean and
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  hateful things over the years, whatever.
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  That's just a look at the measure of the man as they stay
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  as he stands right now. What are his policy positions?
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  Ask specific questions. You know, what ifs, you know,
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  foreign policy. See what he has in terms of the
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  depth of knowledge and understanding of how our
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  government works and functions and how he would how he would
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  govern in in that capacity. If he is like Tony said, he's
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  one of one of 100 that's it is over 300 million people in in
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  this country and he'd be 1 of 100 that are run in the country
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  at the Senate level in Congress critical position.
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  If you want to weigh in, give a call 879-9426 and I'm 100% with
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  Tony. I, I see these ads.
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  I just, like, roll my eyes like, Oh, my God, why don't you know,
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  why doesn't someone just get into his record of what is he
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  going to do besides bash Senator Collins and Trump and everything
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  else? You know, that's not to me,
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  That's not a platform. That's a Wrecking Ball.
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  OK, Big difference. So I I this election is coming
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  up to me. Validates.
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  Yeah. To me, it's like, how low.
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  It's like a limbo contest, You know, how low can we go?
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  How low can we go in this country and in the state and we
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  put up with this type of behavior?
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  I don't know. People keep voting, voting
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  candidates in that. I look at it this way.
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  Would you have that person? Would you have that person
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  around your family, around your children?
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  Would you have them working in in your business?
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  Heck no, you know, no way. But yet you wanted them to
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  represent us. That used to be a, a dignified
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  position, some of that that had dignity and respect.
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  And that's the way that our founding fathers really set up
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  our Constitution. They wanted people of high
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  regard, respect in the in their local community, which everyone
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  knew everybody, right? So it would weed out the, the
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  frauds. They got elected, they went and
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  served, whether it's, you know, Congress or the Senate.
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  And then they came home and went back to work.
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  You know, they weren't there for 30 years.
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  So that argument could be made about long term politicians like
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  Senator Collins and I'm and they're making it right.
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  She served too long. That's their claim.
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  So I think fundamentally that's what we need to get back to
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  responsible term limits. And people say, oh, voting, you
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  know, is term limits. Well, when someone's capable of
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  raising 6080 a $100 million to hold on to a seat, you really
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  think that something you know, it's like Congress has an 18%
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  approval rating, but yet 90% of the incumbents get re elected.
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  That tells you all you need to know it.
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  We need to change the structure of our of our government so that
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  it it prevents insider trading. You know, you've heard me talk
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  about crafter congressional reform and their trade act.
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  That was something I put together and basically would be
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  term limits and have tariffs. I'm I'm OK with the tariffs, but
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  have them tied to, to labor laws and environmental.
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  So we could get on the level playing field.
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  China wants to not have tariffs, then match our labor laws and
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  our environmental laws. No problem.
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  We can compete with China if the, if it's a fair and level
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  playing field, compete with anybody.
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  So I think that to me is what needs to happen.
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  You can hire honest or elect honest people, but it's such a
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  small sampling, right? You, you inject 1/2 a dozen
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  honest people into Congress and they're going to get nothing
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  accomplished. They just get steamrolled by the
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  people that have been there and they're not going anywhere.
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  Staff the, you know, the administration and the
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  bureaucrats that just exist down there in Washington, DC.
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  It's not for the faint of heart. So I just want to land on a
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  positive note. Beautiful day.
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  I want to thank everyone for listening and enjoy this, this
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  really memorable Memorial Day weekend.
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  And as Mike Hall from Brunswick said earlier, just just be
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  mindful, visit a cemetery, call a veteran.
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  It's all about the people that have given the ultimate
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  sacrifice for our nation and for us as a society today to keep us
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  free and keep us blessed and keep us prosperous.
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  Thank you very much for listening to the Inside Main.