How they voted

To the editor:
    When it’s time for election, lots of candidates begin talking about how they’re going to support business and the Maine economy. I’m always interested in how they have voted in the past on those issues. The only way to find that out that I am aware of is to check the Maine Economic Research Institute website.
    The Maine Economic Research Institute is a nonpartisan, independent, not-for-profit organization formed to conduct research, analysis and reporting on economic issues. In Maine, MERI also reports on how our legislators voted on important economy related legislation and rates them on a scale of (0-100). A rating of (0-34) is very weak support. (35-54) is weak, (55-74) is strong support and (75 to 100) is very strong support. How did our Aroostook County legislators rate in the recent legislature on 16 different economy and business related bills?
    Here are their scores: Senators, Sherman (87.91) Jackson (21.48) Representatives,  Ayotte (53.57),  Clark (69.44),  Cleary (33.52),  Edgecomb (82.48)  Joy (91.43), Martin (20.16), Sutherland (24.31), Theriault (21.83), and Willette  (43.41).
    Since we will be voting for a new governor on November 2nd, I thought voters would also be interested in knowing that Senator Mitchell’s latest score is (21.83). All of the other  candidates for governor do not have a MERI rating.
Dean Clukey
Houlton