Vote or Quit Bitchin’ 2006
Local election coverage
Voters’ Guide: State House District 114
Boyd Marley a safe bet for fourth term
By Chris Busby and Erik Eisele
Democratic State Rep. Boyd Marley is poised to coast into a fourth term in Augusta representing District 114: East Deering and the islands in Casco Bay. His lone challenger, Republican Sharon Forbis, is about as likely to topple the mild-mannered, likeable Marley as Phillip Morris Napier Thu Peoples Hero is to be our next governor.
Forbis did not respond to requests to participate in our Voters’ Guide, but she’s not an unknown. She ran against Marley in 2002 – back when this area was called House District 36, and Marley was seeking term number two – and lost by over 1,000 votes.
In February of 2004, Forbis lost a federal lawsuit in which she claimed Portland cops used unreasonable force when they arrested her in 2001 after entering her home in response to a fight between her two adult sons. Later in ’04, Forbis ran against incumbent Democratic County Commissioner Esther Clenott, and got creamed at the polls. Though Forbis edged Clenott in Republican-loving Falmouth and Cumberland, Esther cleaned her clock in Portland, handily winning every precinct – Clenott got 24,008 Portland votes to Forbis’ 9,635.
Forbis, 64, did talk to the Portland Press Herald this fall. “Forbis said she believes that politicians lie about what really goes on in Augusta, the media reports the lies and the public believes the lies because many people are gullible,” wrote PPH reporter Kelley Bouchard. “‘I want to stop the lying,'” Forbis is quoted as saying.
Good luck with that.
Marley, a 42-year-old special-ed teacher, has dedicated the bulk of his political energy to transportation issues (he is the state House of Representatives’ chair on the Legislature’s Transportation Committee). Like many of his fellow Portland Dems, Marley opposes TABOR, favors a local-option tax for cities like Portland, is pro-choice, anti-death penalty, and foolish enough to think establishing “drug-free safe zones” around parks and playgrounds will keep kids more safe and sober.
Marley doesn’t want to expand gambling in Maine, but he’d like to expand the state’s Dirigo Health program into something resembling universal health care coverage.
Though he’s probably just wearing a political poker face, Marley claims to be undecided on the question of whether part of his district, Peaks Island, should be allowed to secede from Portland.
As for helping Maine’s groundfishing industry, Marley’s not much help. He stressed the importance of working to adjust federal fishing regulations to meet local needs (good luck with that) and keeping taxes affordable on working waterfront property (voters already passed a measure to do just that).
His weakness on the fishing issue aside, Marley’s done little to inspire the angst of voters in his district. Unless there’s something funny in East Deering’s water, he can expect a fourth term in the House.
