– Congressman Golden with Lance Harvell and the 8th grade social studies class at Phillips Elementary School. Paula Kane

Congressman Golden uses the map to illustrate the extent of the congressional district which he serves. Paula Kane

PHILLIPS – On Monday, US Representative for Maine’s 2nd District Jared Golden was the special guest of the eighth grade social studies class at Phillips Elementary School and their teacher, Mr. Lance Harvell. Rep. Golden was greeted in the school’s lobby by Phillips Student Council President Bear Rollins, Vice President Mckenzie Contreras, and 8th Grade Senator Brooke Douglass, along with their teacher.

During a short tour of the school, Rep. Golden was introduced to MSAD 58’s Superintendent Todd Sanders, Principal Jeffrey Pillsbury, and each of the middle level classes and their teachers. It is interesting to note that the 5th grade science class was discussing the Gulf of Maine with their teacher Tom Piekart. This class recently visited the Gulf of Maine Research Institute where one of their topics of exploration was “Why is the Gulf of Maine warming so quickly?”

Rep. Golden pointed out that it is “the fastest warming body of water in the ocean”.

Following the meet and greet, the group proceeded to their social studies classroom where the 8th graders had about an hour to talk with their Congressman. Each student was to have prepared a list of questions for their guest. As it turned out, these led to discussion of a wide variety of topics, including several current events and how government works, some history, and even a bit of geography and economics. The first question, however, was a bit more personal, “Why did you decide to run for Congress?”

Rep. Golden shared that he was “somewhat resistant to the idea at first”, but he knew he wanted to serve the people of Maine.

“I knew I could play a role in making things better,” Rep. Golden told the class.

Once he set his mind to it, “We launched our campaign within three weeks”, he stated.

Golden knew it would not always be easy going. For example, he understood going in that he would face criticism and resistance from time to time and he soon learned there is “a ton of work behind the scenes”. Still, he was convinced that “the good you can do will outweigh the bad”, and he was pleased to report that this has been the case.

One area of great concern which is near and dear to his heart, and in which he believes he has been able to make a positive difference during his political career to date, is the plight of Maine Veterans regarding health care and other services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs. A Veteran himself, a Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Golden has worked diligently on behalf of servicemen and women to make sure the services upon which they rely every day are protected.

A follow-up question led to discussion about Golden’s work on behalf of small businesses in Maine. Mr. Harvell called to the Congressman’s attention that a large percentage of the students in this class have parents who run their own businesses. When asked if Golden had run “to save small businesses”, he replied, “Certainly to help.” In addition to his current service on the House Arm Forces Committee in Washington, he is also a member of the House Small Business Committee, which he referred to as “a good assignment for Maine.”

An issue of particular interest to the students in this rural part of the state was that of the CMP corridor through Maine to Massachusetts. In general, Golden explained, this project is largely driven by Massachusetts where a majority of state legislators have endorsed bills to get that state to 100% renewable energy by 2045. He suggested he was “largely skeptical” as to whether this was a good thing for Maine.

Harvell recalled a previous discussion with this class last year about “how, especially in this area, we were the frontier when this became a state and how the anti-Massachusetts spirit was alive then and it’s still alive now”.

Golden continued, “Some other important points to consider…I’ll give you two. From a broader climate perspective, you hear people talking about getting carbon out of the air to try and put a stop on global warming. There are some people that will argue that Maine is what they call the tailpipe of New England and New York in terms of air pollution and air quality…Wind patterns and others carry their air pollution up into our state where we have better air quality…

The argument you’ll hear from environmentalists that are in support of the Corridor is that by getting Massachusetts off of fossil fuels we’ll be receiving less of their air pollution drifting north and east into Maine. There’s some debate about whether or not that’s true…you’ve got to talk to a scientist about it…

“The other thing is that Central Maine Power is giving the State of Maine some good things, and there’s some truth there. They’re putting $15M towards heat pumps to install into homes, particularly, I think in these western Maine communities…a great way to efficiently heat your home, that gets you off of oil to some degree, and they’re putting in these plug-in stations for electric vehicles. The problem is not many people, I think, around here drive electric vehicles, but I guess they hope to encourage people to do so…but I want you to have a healthy skepticism about this because…the common theme about heat pumps and electric vehicles…they both plug into and use electricity and CMP sells us electricity so, even though they are giving us $30M worth of goods, they are also, over the course of time, will get all of their money back from us, so it’s almost like a loan more than it is a payment…”

The next question moved things onto the national front.

“What is your opinion on the impeachment movement going on now?”

Golden’s response began with the recognition that he is in “a very unique position in this country right now.” Of 235 Democrats in the House, he is one of only nine who have taken “what we believe is a kind of middle position and one that is based upon finding facts…

“What my position has been is a rush to call for an impeachment inquiry makes this look like it is more political and about whether you are a Democrat or a Republican rather than staying focused on the substance of the issue, which is that a whistleblower, a federal employee from the CIA…has come forward with what has been deemed by other third party sources as credible in concerning allegations, and as a result, Congress actually has an obligation to look into any whistleblower’s complaint…investigate, get the facts, as best they can be had. So my preference would have been that we do an investigation without rushing to talking about impeachment…one of the most significant things that comes before any congress…

“Impeachment is there as a tool the Founding Fathers put to protect us against an abuse of power…but I think it should be withheld as a very last measure that any Congress should take. If it were me personally, I would have waited, have the investigation, and then decided if it warranted further impeachment inquiry discussions…Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has chosen to follow a different process than I would have, but nevertheless, here we are…

“I would encourage you all just to step back and take this as a learning moment…You are going to have a front row seat to a process that has only happened four times in the history of America, this would be the fourth… (The Founding Fathers) set up a really interesting system and it’s meant as an additional system of checks and balances…

“Look for the facts. Don’t just believe the headlines that you read in whatever news source…some news sources may lean politically one way and others another and you have to get your hands on different sides of that debate and try and really look for the information that is verified and proven to be fact…”

A brief review of what “impeachment” means ensued, stressing the fact that impeachment does not mean the automatic ousting of a president, or any other official, from office, although that is often the ultimate objective. In the US, the process starts with a formal inquiry by Congress. If the inquiry provides enough evidence to bring charges against the official, the next step is to create a list of those charges. These articles of impeachment, the formal allegation(s), are then brought before the House for approval. If the House passes, by a simple majority, the articles, then the official is formally impeached, which means a trial by the Senate, with the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court presiding. As in any trial, there are several possible conclusions.

“There are multiple steps that are available in this whole process,” Golden informed the class, “that don’t include impeachment and removal from office.”

A two-thirds majority in the Senate is required in order to convict and remove a president. Of the three instances in American history when presidents have faced impeachment, none have been convicted. There have been two acquittals (Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton) and one resignation (Richard Nixon).

From there, the conversation shifted for a moment to a lighter note: “What do you think of Mr. Harvell?”

“I think he’s a good guy,” Golden declared, “I’ll tell you a couple of things about Mr. Harvell as best I’ve got to know him in our two years together in the State Legislature. He has a reputation for being a conservative guy, but also an open-minded and pragmatic thinker…Lance, as I like to call him, I think, had a reputation for being someone who can conduct himself with respect towards others even when they disagree and that is really a highly valued thing, and, sadly, not always the case.

“I want you all to take that really seriously,” he went on, “that in this day and age, in our communities and in politics, it’s so important to be respectful of people, in particular the people that you don’t agree with. You can learn a lot just by listening to people and I think Lance was always willing to do that. He also had a great reputation for giving great floor speeches that were entertaining. He could always elicit laughter, which is a really powerful tool when there’s a heated, kind of partisan debate going on and someone can get up and make a thoughtful and articulate argument that are fact and history, but can also make people laugh…to see things a little bit differently.”

When one of his students asked Mr. Harvell why he gave up government “to come teach us”, Harvell quipped, “I was in Augusta for ten years and I couldn’t teach them anything. I have higher hopes for you guys…”

As the class continued, discussion also touched on the pros and cons of no term limits for Senators and Representatives, (the longest-serving member of the US House has been in office now for 70 years), ranked choice voting (“rather ambivalent, to be honest, when it was on the ballot in 2016…passed by voter referendum…helped elect me…you’ve just got to play by the rules as they’ve been set out, in this case by the people”); and Golden’s favorite part about being in office (“First of all,…my staff gets to help a lot of people on a daily basis in ways that will never be written about by the press ’cause it doesn’t sell papers…but it’s really meaningful to people.”)

Elaborating on this topic, Golden said, “I enjoy knowing that there’s something good going on. We have all the debates and negativity around politics these days. I personally believe I’ve been given a real gift…It’s incredibly gratifying to be elected by such a large number of people and to have them put their faith in me. It’s a blessing.

On top of that, he added, moving to the wall map of Maine, which he used to illustrate his comments, “I’ve learned more about this state in the last two years than in all the 35 that preceded it. I get paid to travel the State of Maine and meet all kinds of different people…I represent everyone basically from Lewiston to the Canadian border, Ft. Kent, that’s a six hour drive…from Fryeburg over here in western Maine to Lubec, which is as far east as you can go in the continental United States – also about a six-hour drive, mostly because there’s no east-west highway, another great debate…

“There are over 350 distinct towns in my congressional district. So far, I’ve been to about a hundred of them…My goal would be to get to every one of them before November 3, 2020…I’m going to places I’ve never been to, meeting all kinds of different people…Honestly, it’s the best education I think anyone could receive about the State of Maine.”

Finally, as their hour together drew to a close, Golden touched on Maine’s very distinct economies.

“We have very traditional economies…western Maine, logging is very big…sawmills, paper mills…forest products industry…farming is big pretty much everywhere in my congressional district, but, obviously, over here, Down East Maine, fishing is kind of the anchor of our economy…As we get into this more central area, more of a kind of service sector, retail and health care…It’s an interesting state…”

Golden’s is the largest congressional district geographically east of the Mississippi River.

“If I drive six hours north from where I live in Lewiston, I’m on the Canadian border, in Ft. Kent. If I were to drive six hours south, I’d be in New York City.

“Something else I’ve learned about Maine in the last two years,” he added, “…Maine’s coastline…it’s so jagged…up and down the coast…the Coast Guard says that if you were to stretch Maine’s coastline out into a straight line, it would be basically as long as, or perhaps longer than, California’s coastline.”

Harvell added, “When we talk about Prohibition, we’re going to talk about how a lot of people smuggling alcohol liked that.”

The last questioner sought Golden’s opinion on the electoral college.

“I personally don’t have an issue with it…a system that we put into place for a reason and I’d be really skeptical about an effort to change that, but I do understand peoples’ frustrations at times…The longer I’ve been involved in politics, the more I understand that process is really important and while we should be willing to change it, you have to be really careful how you go about that…What’s most important is that the collective population, all of the people of America, continue to have faith and trust that our elections are fair and transparent. That’s at the heart of our democracy…We have to be careful about changing process.”

And with that, there was just enough time left to pose for a group photo – actually, several group photos, which were taken by Dan Jenkins, Golden’s assistant in his Lewiston office, using the phones which all of a sudden appeared as if by magic from various pockets around the room – before the 8th graders had to move on to their next class.

In speaking with Mr. Harvell after he and his class had a chance to debrief the Congressman’s visit, Harvell shared that the students were generally impressed with the way Golden had answered their questions so directly. They were also somewhat impressed with themselves, having had such an up close and personal encounter with “a celebrity”.

“Some of them saw Congressman Golden on TV later,” Harvell clarified.

Harvell is at the beginning of his second year as social studies teacher in Phillips. Prior to this, he spent a decade of service in Maine’s House of Representatives. The last two being when he and Congressman Golden were colleagues. Harvell is currently working towards completing his teaching certificate, which he hopes to finish up within a year. He says he plans to “be here for awhile”.

Harvell’s “first love” was always history. When in his late 30s, he began taking classes at the University of Maine in Farmington where he was encouraged to run for office by one of his professors. Consequently, he ran against Janet Mills, losing “a couple of close elections”. When she became Attorney General, he gave it another shot. He was elected to the House in 2008 and continued in office until just last year, when a string of fortuitous circumstances, including a conversation with former MSAD 58 Superintendent Quentin Clark, led him to his current occupation as a middle level social studies teacher.

His sees his former experiences and his professional contacts in government as a definite advantage. Last year, as part of their study of Maine history, he and his seventh grade class, this year’s eighth graders, took a trip to the State Capitol where they met with the newly-elected Governor Janet Mills in her office. Former Senator Tom Saviello, current Senator Russell Black, and Representative Tom Skolfield have also been guests at various events at the school. Next year, Harvell hopes to be able to bring former Governor Paul LePage and US Senator Susan Collins to Phillips to speak with his students.

Jared Golden (Democrat) is the representative from Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House. He was elected on November 6, 2018. This was the first general election in Maine for which ranked-choice voting was law, and this race was the first in U.S. history where the process was used to decide a congressional election.

On May 20, 2019, Golden announced that he would seek re-election to Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in 2020. Prior to joining Congress, Golden served in the Maine House of Representatives, representing District 60 from 2014 to 2018.