Mick Devin is the incumbent Democratic House Representative from District 90, which includes Newcastle, Damariscotta, Jefferson and most of the towns on the Pemaquid Peninsula, as well as Monhegan Island. He is a research staff member at the Darling Center, where he works with aquaculture.

Devin said most of the ballot questions, if passed, will have to be worked on before they are enacted. On Question One, he said it is important that the law is clarified to make certain that people have to be 21 to purchase marijuana, and that there should be ample education and prevention with teens and preteens, and standards and sobriety tests for drivers, and that Maine growers should be protected. On Question Two, he said the Legislature has to fund education at 55 percent. “It’s the will of the people,” he said.

Devin doesn’t like the wording on Question Three, but said safety is paramount. “People should have to go through a course and get a card,” he said. On Question Four, Devin said he supports a living wage. “Right now we are subsidizing businesses who have people working at subsistence levels, through public support such as food stamps.” Devin doesn’t see a significant tipped wage issue, and said most tipped workers don’t earn the $60,000 or more that some are claiming. “It doesn’t go to $12 per hour until 2020. If tipped worker salaries become an issue, we can revisit it,” he said. Devin said he supports Question Five. He said it is going to help independents and third party candidates, and appears to be well-written.

On health care, Devin said expanding Medicaid is essential. He has submitted bills in the past to send expanding Medicaid to referendum, which looks like it is headed for the 2018 ballot. “We accept highway dollars and SNAP funds. Why shouldn’t we accept federal funds for health care? It’s ludicrous.” Devin said most health care issues we face in Maine, including opiate addiction, would be much easier to deal with if the additional funds were available, and hospitals would be less likely to run into trouble.

Regarding welfare, Devin said most of the issues Gov. LePage is concerned about, such as photo IDs on EBT cards, or not providing benefits for legal immigrants, are illegal at the federal level. “Since these are federal dollars, we have to comply with federal rules,” he said, adding that he doesn’t have a real issue with photo ID on the cards. Real ID is another issue. “We are going to have to comply with Real ID,” he said. “We will have to redo the contract with the company that makes the driving licenses, that will cost money,” he said.

On education, Devin doesn’t have an issue with having several tuition rates at state universities. “We could raise out-of-state tuition, but I am totally against raising in-state tuition,” he said. He said he would recommend a system of loan forgiveness by encouraging students to come back and serve in economically depressed areas in Maine for three to five years, and have their tuition forgiven on a sliding scale. He is in favor of universal PreK. “Those dollars pay a ten-fold return in terms of performance, behavior, and social issues,” he said, adding that universal PreK also helps families who need childcare so that they can work.

Devin said the state’s best solution for economic development is infrastructure. “We’ve just helped the woodcutters with $13 million,” he said, “but there is very little the state can do in the short term to help with development in the north woods.” He said the real need is in value-added products, and that raw log exporting is not the best use of Maine’s resources. “Both the ACA and highway bonds will bring in money right away,” he said. “Over the long term, we need to expend funds in infrastructure, for education, and research. Bonding creates jobs.” Devin said that in heavy construction projects, one job feeds ten other jobs. “Right now, the interest rates are still dirt cheap,” he said. “The scales will eventually tip and interest rates will go up, so it’s best to do these things while the money is relatively inexpensive.”

On fisheries, Devin is very concerned about the health of the Gulf of Maine. “Ocean acidification is a significant problem,” he said. “We need a commission that would look at the overall health of the Gulf.”