Maine faces a stark choice in the upcoming gubernatorial election: the action-ready Janet Mills versus Shawn Moody’s promise to pile on four more years of the tired failures of the current administration.

As attorney general, Democrat Janet Mills has not only an aggressive legal record on Maine’s opioid crisis, a curse that kills one Mainer every day, but also a 10-point action plan focused on prevention, intervention and recovery. In contrast, Republican Shawn Moody offers nothing more than vague support for current policies, without any analysis or consideration of what works versus what doesn’t.

Janet Mills has a detailed plan to bring the advantages of modern infrastructure systems, including fiber-optic cable; science, technology, engineering and math education in the middle and high schools, and jobs in research and construction, to the border counties and the former mill towns.

On the other side, Shawn Moody promises to “take what (Paul) LePage has achieved and build upon it.” That means, according to the Maine Department of Labor, an increase of fewer than 94 jobs over the next 10 years!

On Medicaid, Attorney General Mills supports the decision by voters to expand Medicaid to 70,000 Mainers. Not so Shawn Moody, whose positions include support for predatory “junk insurance” policies and whose website ignores the expansion of Medicaid endorsed by the electorate at the ballot box, but opposed by the current governor.

In short, Mainers face a choice in November: the forceful, forward-looking action plans of Janet Mills, or four more years of recycled failures.

William H. Coogan

Westbrook

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