State Senator Beth Edmonds

This is the final column I'm writing as your State Senator. I have been honored and privileged to have served as your Senator since the year 2000 and as Senate president since 2004. Please indulge me as I reflect on the past eight years here in Augusta.

I vividly remember the first election I won to the Senate eight years ago. The razor thin margin was so close that a recount was requested. That caused me to value the opportunity to serve you even more. I took the oath of office very seriously. After being a part of the Freeport community as children's librarian for so many years and caring deeply for fairness to all, I was excited about serving both the citizens of the district and all the people of Maine.

In my first four years as Senator, acting as Senate Chair of the Labor Committee, I made every effort to bring about mutually agreeable solutions with the help of my fellow legislators. I knew being even-handed, understanding and collaborative would be the best path to resolution of many potentially partisan and divisive Legislative issues. In those four years I had the privilege to support many bills relating to fair wages and benefits for working men and women.

The more I participated in government every day, the more I discovered the State House is like a small town. Legislators and staff in the State House were working together with me for the good of all Maine people. Governor Baldacci and his staff were helpful as good collaborations were being forged. If it takes a village to raise a child, it certainly takes all of these good folks to make laws and govern our state. I am proud of the Legislature and my colleagues in it.

After those first four years in the Senate I decided to run to become its President. My colleagues placed their confidence in me to lead the Senate for two consecutive terms. In those four years the Legislature passed eight budget bills that made the difficult choices of reducing the total cost of budgets. These budgets preserved essential health care services and complied with voters' wishes to significantly increase state funding for local education.

Beyond the budgets, more than four thousand bills were introduced, some tending to the routine details of Maine life, others having a broad impact on nearly everyone. Some of the most meaningful measures were to help working folks: Increases in the minimum wage; expanding the Family Medical Leave Laws allowing workers to care for ill siblings or domestic partners; the repeal of the law that denied full unemployment benefits to seniors who are on Social Security.

The core of my desire to make Maine a better state has been to help pass good laws for Health and Safety. We were able to bring more funding and attention to the issue of domestic violence and passed a law that improved the definition of stalking. Other laws helped increase veterans' access to services, prevent methamphetamine abuse, and create a permanent council on poverty and economic security in Maine.

Finally, in recent years, I was honored to be in the Legislature that helped look after our state's education and culture. Funding was sustained for improvement of library collections throughout the State and for statewide access to improve online data resources for MARVEL! the State's Library information network. We accomplished the enactment of a school administrative consolidation law to make school systems more efficient and effective. I made a special effort to bring together the three leaders of K-12 education, the Community College system and the University system to work more closely to improve cooperation and coordination in secondary and post-secondary education in the State.

Through the four terms I served, I have always been mindful of the best interests of constituents - the people and small businesses in Brunswick, Freeport, Harpswell and Pownal. The formation and funding of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority will enable the Brunswick area to sustain strong, well planned economic development.

Now I return to work year 'round in Freeport. I want to thank the Freeport Community Library staff so much for all the patience and support they have given me while I left them to 'mind the store' when I served in Augusta. I look forward to enjoying more time with my husband Dan and the friends we've grown close to over the years in this community. This stage of my life has been exceedingly rewarding and I sincerely and wholeheartedly thank the Legislators and staff in Augusta and you - citizens in District 10 - for all your support.