Saco Main Street, our downtown revitalization organization, has been working on modified versions of our annual events.
 
We kick off our event schedule this Saturday at 10AM in the Saco Dog Park near Fairfield School with a very special version of Bark in the Park. This will be in the honor and memory of K-9 Champ, who served over 10 years with the Maine State Police and Saco’s own, Trooper Jeremy Forbes, who served 25 years with the State Police. Champ was an amazing companion and helped law enforcement with numerous cases. There will be booths with various pet organizations and activities for our four-legged family members with proceeds benefiting improvements to the park.
 
The Saco Sidewalk Arts Festival will, among other things, include a vaccination station tent, coordinated by our Saco Bay Rotary club, to administer shots to anyone who like one. The date is Saturday June 26th. The Annual Saco Car Show is still a go set for Saturday July 24th in our historic downtown.
 
Music in the (Dyer Library/Saco Museum) Parking Lot, a new local favorite, is back! A number of musical acts are booked for Thursdays at 6PM between July 8th and Aug. 12th. We’ll have acts like Trevor & Company, Opera Maine Teens, and even Elvis makes an appearance, and attendance is free.   
 
In Old Orchard Beach, the Scottish Festival returns this Saturday in Veterans Memorial Park from 9AM to 6PM and Thursday night fireworks begin June 24th. The 17th annual Capt. Christopher Cash Memorial 5K is happening June 26th to benefit college scholarships at OOB High School to honor Cash’s memory and service. To register visit www.runforcash.org. The annual Beach Olympics, benefiting the Special Olympics Maine, is being worked on to return August 19th – 21st. The Old Orchard Beach Chamber is helping put together another annual car show September 17th – 18th. For the full calendar of events in OOB, you can visit the chamber’s website at www.oldorchardbeachmaine.com.
 
Over in Hollis, something you might not know, they normally have an annual festival featuring swashbuckling pirates. A Pirate Festival? Yes please. It’s a fun event filled with activities for the kiddos, free music, and good food. The festival is well known in Hollis, but it’s a hidden gem more folks should know about. The event is back on this summer. As usual, I will be emceeing this event in full pirate costume and all the proceeds benefit afterschool and summer programs at Hollis Parks & Recreation. It’s scheduled for Saturday Aug. 14th and the full schedule can be found at www.holliscommunityday.com.
 
This isn’t an extensive list and any details are subject to change, but it’s great news to see so many events safely return to our area. As we hopefully navigate out of this pandemic as more and more individuals get vaccinated, I’m looking forward to connecting with one another again. It’s good for the soul and for society.
 
Justin Chenette is the former state senator for the Saco-OOB area. He is currently a scholarship program director, mayoral appointee on the Saco Long-Range Planning Committee, member of the Saco Main Street Board of Directors, and author of the children’s book ‘The Great Whoopie Pie Debate’. Learn more at www.justinchenette.com. 

When volunteering throughout the past year, putting USDA boxes of free food into people’s cars, you should have seen the lineup. At the Saco Elks Club, the line went for miles all the way down to the Halfway intersection in OOB. We had to have police help navigate because there was so much traffic caused by an event giving away free food. One of the city’s drones caught an image that will forever be etched in my memory of the cars lined up for just a few free core staples like milk and produce. While it’s great we have programs like this, coordinated by local groups, to fill in the gaps, it breaks my heart see so much need in our own backyard.    
 
Even when we were scooping and handing out weekly hot meals to seniors with Saco Parks & Rec, there were a number of folks who said that this was a true blessing. One lady told me this one meal went a long way to helping supplement what she needs in a week. That one meal. But this isn’t new. The need has been there all along, even if it was exacerbated because of the public health crisis. I also heard from so many seniors, house or apartment bound, who couldn’t leave the house and needed essentials and assistance.
 
Did you know there is a significant portion of students who attend Thornton Academy that require food assistance? At a cost of over $300,000 per year, my Alma Mater provides free breakfast and lunch to hundreds of food insecure students through the Headmaster’s Student Assistance Fund. Unlike fully public schools, this is not subsidized, instead they collect donations to fund it. There are enough students who are food insecure that they have a stuff-the-backpack program, providing food to the students and their families to supplement what they have at home each weekend.
 
But what can we do to help? Turns out, a lot.  
 
The Saco Food Pantry always needs volunteers whether that’s driving a package of food to someone’s doorstep or helping to arrange food in the building, there is something for everyone to do. Old Orchard Beach has a few food pantries, so be sure to check out their needs, from food donations or helping distribute. So many local churches also step up as well and have their own ways of lifting up our most vulnerable.
 
Age Friendly Saco and OOB Community Friendly Connection are two groups committed to helping individuals age comfortably in place. Anything from providing sand buckets for driveways in the winter to providing a list of valuable resources and the latest town information, they brainstorm creative solutions and turn it into action. Throughout the pandemic, both groups helped call seniors to check in on them through phone trees and helped coordinate further food drops to senior complexes and homes. If you are looking for a group of movers and shakers, these groups would be it.
 
Longtime volunteer organizations like Rotary, Lions, and Kiwanis, do good work in our area year-round. I have always found with my own Rotary club for instance, that folks are always willing to pitch in and lend a hand whenever and wherever is needed. A true embodiment of our slogan ‘Service Above Self’.
 
Of course, this is not an extensive list. Unlike other places in Maine, we don’t have a shortage of organizations and groups making a difference. I’m grateful for that. It’s a testament to the commitment of our community to help one another, but also a demonstration of the need that is out there.
 
I look around and see people needing a hand up in order to live happy, healthy, and successful lives. Let us remember the amount of food insecurity, housing burden, and mobility issues we’ve seen throughout the pandemic isn’t something that just goes away. It will be around long after the pandemic subsides. It’s our responsibility as good stewards in this life to step up and lift up as many people as we can and are able to. It’s a philosophy I have always tried to live by, and I know we are up for the task.  
 
Justin Chenette is the former state senator for the Saco-OOB area. He is currently a scholarship program director, mayoral appointee on the Saco Long-Range Planning Committee, member of the Saco Main Street Board of Directors, and author of the children’s book ‘The Great Whoopie Pie Debate’. Learn more at www.justinchenette.com. 
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Create opportunities to serve. No matter what you do in life, there is always a way to connect it to a higher calling and be in the service of others. It doesn’t have to be grandiose or largescale. It could be as simple as opening the door for someone at the Post Office, but it could also be joining a mission that is near and dear to your heart, like a local committee or group. As my Rotary club says frequently, service above self.

Hopefully these lessons will be useful to you no matter the stage of life you are currently at. We
truly never stop learning, growing, and becoming our truest self.
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Justin Chenette is the former state senator for the Saco-OOB area. He is currently a scholarship program director, mayoral appointee on the Saco Long-Range Planning Committee, member of the Saco Main Street Board of Directors, president of the Maine Democracy Project, and author of the children’s book ‘The Great Whoopie Pie Debate’. Learn more at www.justinchenette.com.

​As I reflect back on my 8 years of service in the Maine legislature, I think about the legacy I leave behind not just for the communities I serve, but for the next group of leaders that come after me.
 
The core of my service centered around the concept of having a government not beholden to special interests, corporations, or lobbyists. And probably most important of all, their money. I was able to pass into law a ban on lobbyist contributions, an end to profiting off political contributions through the use PACs as personal slush funds, a true 1 year ban on former lawmakers becoming lobbyists, clear definitions around caucus PACs to ensure the Ethics Commission can enforce the rules, and a ban on Clean Election candidates running PACs. At least half of those initiatives received bipartisan support, even unanimous support. Something that increasingly is becoming harder to accomplish given how polarizing our politics have become. These wins represent significant campaign finance reform that would have never happened if I wasn’t in Augusta fighting the good fight.  

​As co-chair of the Democracy Reform Caucus, I co-sponsored legislation with Senate President Troy Jackson to make Maine the first state in the country to use Ranked Choice Voting in the presidential election. I also co-sponsored a bill with Speaker of the House Sara Gideon to create an automatic voter registration system in Maine. These two new laws move us closer to reducing barriers to the ballot box, improving our politics, and increasing civic participation.
 
During my time in the House and Senate, I brought young Democratic and Republican lawmakers together in the formation of a Youth Caucus. By working together, we advocated for sensible policies around reducing student loan debt, adding financial literacy into the curriculum, and my successful bill to make community service a high school graduation standard. I also co-sponsored successful legislation to make it easier for children of Veterans to obtain tuition waivers to go to college.
 
As chairman of the only bipartisan committee in the legislature, the Government Oversight Committee, I took a leadership role holding agencies and department heads accountable to ensure effectiveness of programs and that taxpayer dollars were spent appropriately. We directed Maine’s watchdog agency, OPEGA, to review tax breaks, collect information on programs, and investigate governmental issues. I’m proud to say every single vote on my committee was not only bipartisan, but unanimous during my time as its chairman.
 
As a member of the Environment & Natural Resources Committee, I fought to protect the water quality of our rivers and the Gulf of Maine and helped lead the charge to ban offshore oil drilling. To reduce pollution, I cosponsored a law to ban single-use Styrofoam containers, making Maine the first state in the country to do so. I served on the Governor’s Climate Council, which is leading efforts to reduce carbon emissions, achieve 100% renewable energy, and create good-paying green energy jobs in Maine. My role on the Coastal & Marine Working Group has meant a front row seat to drafting long term solutions to protect our coastline from the impacts of climate change. I also co-sponsored legislation that made it easier for the city of Saco to protect our coastline through the dune system.
 
As a member of the Criminal Justice & Public Safety Committee, I helped facilitate a compromise on jail funding, working with county Sheriffs and county commissioners all over Maine for responsible budgeting. On the Taxation Committee, I advocated and helped pass property tax relief in the form of expansions in both the Homestead Exemption and the Property Tax Fairness Credit.
 
My bill to establish greater consumer protections around robocalls became law. I worked alongside Attorney General Aaron Frey to ensure the state had the tools at its disposal to hear complaints from individuals, report bad actors, and work with other states and the Federal government to collaborate on enforcement. I took on health insurance companies to expand access to alternative and holistic forms of medicine and co-sponsored legislation ahead of the pandemic to expand telehealth capabilities statewide.

My bill to fund Saco traffic improvements to Route 112 and exit 36 may have not passed, but it put pressure on the Maine Turnpike Authority and DOT to move forward with long-term planning and funding of this critical infrastructure project. 

On a personal note, I'm proud to have been a co-sponsor to a bill alongside Rep. Ryan Fecteau that banned conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ youth in the state of Maine. 
 
Aside from committees and legislation, I also served as a Citizen Trade Policy Commissioner. In this role, I helped to study and advise the legal and economic impacts of trade agreements on existing laws, working conditions and businesses in Maine. With everything happening on the national level with trade, this became even more critical. I had an opportunity to work hand in hand with our congressional delegation as changes in trade policy were handed down and harshly impacting Maine.
 
It’s hard to summarize 8 years of leadership. With over 2,000 bills in a given session, I’m bound to have missed something including voting for responsible state budgets every two years. Overall though, I hope the legacy I leave behind is that of a strong worth ethic, commitment to service, high energy for involvement, a relentless advocacy for good governance, and someone who delivers real results for our state. 

Justin Chenette is the outgoing State Senator for the Saco-OOB area, President of the Maine Democracy Project, Vice President of Saco Main Street, and author of ‘The Great Whoopie Pie Debate: A Kids’ Guide to the Maine Legislature’. Follow his future updates at www.JustinChenette.com and on social media. 

Revamp Existing Student Engagement Programs
 
The student mock election needs to be revamped to ensure 100% school participation and increase the effectiveness of the overall experience. This could be done through the use of more digital experiences. We also heard that most schools can’t participate in the student mock election day festivities in Augusta. Finding alternative ways to engage schools and students will be critical to increasing the effectiveness of the program.
 
The 8th Grade Citizenship Award is a great way of inspiring confidence and encouraging civic involvement as students head off to high school. Problem is, not every school participates or puts forward a nominee. We need to change that. We need a proactive office to ensure every school participates and finds a deserving student to receive recognition. Also, the recipient should get a personalized message from the Secretary of State and the list of recipients should be sent to the media much like honor roll lists to recognize their achievement.
 
Kid Governor
 
There is a program that was started from the Connecticut Democracy Center that we should bring to Maine. It’s called Kid Governor and it’s a civics based experiential scenario for 5th graders. They research the issues, run for ‘Kid Governor’, and vote for their favorite candidate. The individual then spends time in office helping schools with an issue important to them. This gets kids involved in politics in a safe way and helps them learn about how to select candidates based on issues. It takes what they are learning about government in the textbook to a whole new level. I have already made contact with the organization and have started the process to see about bringing this innovate civics education program to our state.
 
Democracy Schools
 
The Secretary of State’s office should have a strong partnership with the Maine Department of Education to start recognizing local schools and districts who are committed to educational excellence when it comes to civic learning and the establishment of high-quality civic education programs. Other states have started an innovative recognition program called Democracy Schools and we should bring this to Maine. As a former member of the Maine State Board of Education, this is in my wheelhouse and can easily build this out with Commissioner Makin.
 
High school Voter Registration Drive Competitions
 
Let’s find fun ways to empowering high school students to register their peers to vote. Let’s work with local districts, town clerks, and student councils to conduct voter registration competitions to see who can register the most students. The winning high school in each county could get a prize/recognition.
 
College Student Voting Rights
 
This past election, we had reports of confusion at many of our college campuses regarding college student voting rights. Many of you signed onto my letter to the Secretary of State’ office to clear it up. We need ongoing outreach to every college within the state of Maine to ensure our students understand their voting rights and encourage participation in our politics. This can be done with yearly visits, virtual or otherwise, speaking to the political groups on campuses and student organizers to help educate and spread the word.
 
Grants for State House Visits
 
While there are some 4th grade classes that do visit the state house and experience state government in person, most do not and cannot. Usually, the barriers are financial and/or logistical in nature. We should look at how we could provide grants for state house visits to schools that have a tough time pulling it off. Students who page in the House and Senate and visit the state house, end up pointing to those experiences later in life as impactful. We even have a few legislators serving in office who were former student pages. Talk about a good return on our investment!
 
Reaching Gen Z
 
As more and more Gen Z youth become of voting age, it’s critically important that the Secretary of State’s office be able to reach them. Currently, the office isn’t on Instagram which is more heavily used by this age bracket than Facebook and even Twitter. We need to create an Instagram for the Secretary of State’s office to keep current in reaching all possible Maine voters.
 
Have your own ideas to promote civics and student engagement at the Secretary of State’s office? Reach out!
 
Justin Chenette is serving his fourth term in the State Legislature, currently representing Saco, Old Orchard Beach, Hollis, Limington and Buxton in the Senate. He is the chair of the Government Oversight Committee, co-chair of the Democracy Reform Caucus, a member of the Environment and Natural Resources and Ethics Committees, and serves on the Maine Climate Council’s Coastal & Marine Working Group. He is also a Citizen Trade Policy Commissioner. Outside the Legislature, Justin is the owner of a digital marketing firm, president of the Maine Democracy Project, vice president of Saco Main Street, and author of “The Great Whoopie Pie Debate.” Follow updates at justinchenette.com.

Pre-pandemic, one of the highlights of my legislative service has been to visit with classrooms throughout our area. Every year, I would visit with students in elementary and middle school about how a bill becomes a law. When a student connects the dots to see how they can have a real, tangible impact in their community or state, it makes it all worth it. It gives me hope for our future. This is why I published a coloring book, The Great Whoopie Pie Debate, illustrating the legislative process for kids and wrote a full-length children’s book, which is coming out very soon to further this education statewide.
 
As a teenager, I was obsessed with politics, watching a combination of Meet the Press, MSNBC, and CNN on a regular basis. Hence why I worked so hard to host my own public affairs TV show, interviewing political leaders about important issues. I covered Barack Obama’s rally in Portland during his first run for President as a reporter via TA’s school newspaper and ever since, I was hooked. I interned on his campaign as a Youth Organizer. Through that experience I empowered my peers to volunteer during that election cycle and registered my peers to vote.
 
In college, I was hired by the city of Saco as a poll worker, helping our local clerk and volunteers to safety and smoothly conduct our election. It was eye-opening to see the level of professionalism and commitment of the clerk’s office and how much work went into holding a local election.
 
I want to ensure there are even more opportunities to engage youth in our politics. Young people need to have a seat at the table, feel supported to make their voices heard, and be given a platform for action.
 
This is why I’ve founded a new nonprofit organization called the Maine Democracy Project. Our mission is to empower a new generation of voters, advocates, and leaders through civics education, voter registration, and electoral engagement efforts. This non-partisan, nonprofit organization will be a vehicle for me to continue my public service in another way, to increase political participation and government involvement among Maine students and youth.
 
Through social media, speaking engagements, and publications, my hope is to register
more young voters ahead of November’s election and beyond. In fact, just last week was National High School Voter Registration Week and National Voter Registration Day last Tuesday. I think every day is a perfect day to register to vote. 16-year-olds can pre-register to vote in our state and 17-year-olds can vote in Primaries if they are 18 by the General Election. This provides ample opportunity to ensure the next generation has a say in how we are governed and what their futures look like.
 
During the 2018 midterm elections, 31% of 18-19-year-olds voted nationwide. Of all the votes cast in 2018, 13% were voters aged 18 to 29, according to data from the CIRCLE. Together, Gen Z and Millennials reported casting 30.6 million votes, according to Pew Research. Gen Z accounted for around 4.5 million, or 4%, of all votes cast. They are projected to be more like 10% of eligible voters this year as more and more of them become of voting age. In the same report, Pew reported Millennials doubled their voting participation from 2014. All of this means, youth can and will have a significant impact on our elections, who we elect to represent us, and the kind of policies enacted.
If you aren’t registered to vote, you can download a voter registration card, fill it out, and bring to your local town clerk's office. Be sure to bring a valid photo ID along with a bill that has your name and states your primary residence. While we have same-day voter registration in the state of Maine, I would encourage all to do this in advance. If you would like to be a poll worker, visit www.maineelectionworkers.org.
 
We’ve seen students get heavily involved with climate change issues, so a passion for service and advocacy is there in Maine’s next generation. My hope is to help channel this energy into voter engagement and action at the ballot box. I believe in our collective ability to inspire the leaders of tomorrow, to act today. Like I’ve done my entire legislative career, I want to amplify youth voices, educate students about how government works, and inspire them to harness their power for the greater good of our Democracy.
 
Learn more about my latest initiative at www.MaineDemocracy.org.
 
Justin Chenette is serving his fourth term in the state legislature, currently representing Saco, Old Orchard Beach, Hollis, Limington and Buxton in the Senate. He is the chair of the Government Oversight Committee, co-chair of the Democracy Reform Caucus, a member of the Environment and Natural Resources and Ethics Committees, and serves on the Maine Climate Council’s Coastal & Marine Working Group. He is also a Citizen Trade Policy Commissioner. Outside the Legislature, Justin is the owner of a digital marketing firm, president of the Maine Democracy Project, vice president of Saco Main Street, and author of The Great Whoopie Pie Debate. Follow updates at justinchenette.com.

The first being the most consequential reform since probably the creation of the Maine Clean Election system. My new law bans lobbyist contributions to sitting lawmakers and legislative candidates as well as bans out of state lobbyist contributions to the sitting governor and gubernatorial candidates. We have now joined five other states — Alaska, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and California — in preventing lobbyists from using money to influence lawmakers directly.

The other new law has to do with enabling the Maine Ethics Commission to fully enforce rules around caucus PACs by clearly defining them in statute and defining who runs them. Since caucus PACs are run by legislative leaders, it’s critical they are held to a high ethical standard. I worked closely with the staff at the Maine Ethics Commission to ensure they backed the proposal.

When combined together, all four new laws represent a comprehensive overhaul of campaign finance rules and monumental progress.

​After many years of persistence, I was finally able to pass my top legislative priority; comprehensive campaign finance reform. We moved the needle on money in politics, lobbyist influence, and created a more ethical state house so that your voice is heard over donors, corporations, and special interest groups.

With all the issues happening statewide and nationally, it can seem insignificant to be talking about ethics. It’s important, however, to keep an eye towards a future where our political leaders are championing everyday Mainers. Where money doesn’t guarantee access, influence, or even a vote. Where our government operates with the best intentions. That’s worth fighting for.
It has been my ongoing mission to bring about a more ethical, transparent, and accountable State House. I feel confident in the reforms I’ve proposed and passed into law. The difficulty of getting these reforms through the very system we’ve been seeking to reform, should indicate that we have struck a nerve. We have done something many thought was impossible.

The combination of my time as a journalist, eight years of legislative service, and my involvement in politics since I was a teenager, has taught me to constantly seek the truth and do something about it. Specifically, to instill a sense of trust and integrity back into the institution of government. It’s no easy feat, but with each new law, with each new effort to root out even the appearance of corruption, it gives Mainers one more reason to believe that when petitioning your government for a redress of grievances, your leaders will not only act, but act on your behalf.
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Justin Chenette is serving his fourth term in the state legislature, currently representing Saco, Old Orchard Beach, Hollis, Limington and Buxton in the Senate. He is the chair of the Government Oversight Committee, co-chair of the Democracy Reform Caucus, a member of the Environment and Natural Resources and Ethics Committees, and serves on the Maine Climate Council’s Coastal & Marine Working Group. He is also a Citizen Trade Policy Commissioner. Outside the Legislature, Justin is in real estate at the Bean Group, owner of a digital marketing firm, and is vice president of Saco Main Street. Follow updates at justinchenette.com.