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FORT KENT, Maine — Alan Caron, an Independent candidate for governor, will visit Maine’s 490 cities and towns over the next 60 days to meet with Mainers and talk about his vision for creating a new economy, energy independence and a 21st-century government.
He will tour the state in a fully-outfitted 32-foot mobile office dubbed “The NEW MAINE EXPRESS.” The tour will begin Thursday at 8:30 a.m. at the America’s First Mile monument in Fort Kent.
The New Maine Express will also stop in Bangor, Augusta and Portland on Thursday. He will be in Presque Isle at 10 a.m.
Even though Caron’s main focus is on building an economy for the future, he’s embarking on an old-school barnstorming tour in an effort to engage with Mainers on a personal level.
“Maine is at a critical juncture, Caron said, and I will be sounding the alarm across the state. With the world changing rapidly around us, we must either adapt or die. We have the opportunity to truly flourish as a state, in tomorrow’s innovative economy, but that cannot happen if we continue to do the same things we’ve been doing for decades.
“The two political parties are selling the same tired ideas they’ve been giving us for decades. It is long past time for us to move confidently into the future and put the people of Maine ahead of the parties and special interests.”
‘I want to hear directly from the people of Maine in the communities where they work and live. Today’s campaigns have become all about raising money from special interests and attacking your opponents on tv. I want to change the tone of campaigns, and government, to help us break through the gridlock and inaction of political parties, find common ground and work together.”
Caron will post his schedule daily on his website at www.caronforgovernor.com and will regularly stop in public locations in cities and towns so that people can hear his ideas and share theirs. He’ll also be meeting with the editors and reporters of Maine’s weekly newspapers across the state.
His new campaign slogan, “On the Road to a New Economy” is printed on both sides of the vehicle, a 32-foot Newmar Scottsdale Motorhome. “No More Same Old, Same Old’” is printed on the rear.
Caron, who grew up in Waterville in a family of mill workers and farmers, is the owner of the strategic planning consulting firm, Caron Communications. He has spent much of the last 15 years focused on how to build a 21st-century economy and government in Maine. He lives in Freeport.
In 2003 he founded the nonprofit GrowSmart Maine, which helped to produce a report, “Charting Maine’s Future,” which developed strategies to revitalize the state’s economy through preservation of Maine’s quality of place and investment in areas where Maine has a competitive advantage.
In 2009, Caron created Envision Maine to work with nonprofits, businesses, and government and on ways to improve the state’s economy. He has also co-authored two books – Reinventing Maine Government (2010) and Maine’s Next Economy (2016).
