Logo of Chip Curry for Maine Senate

District 23 (Waldo County)

Democratic Candidate for State Senate

Congratulations to Senator Mike Thibodeau

By Chip Curry , on November 7, 2012

I want to thank all of the volunteers who have served this campaign for the past months. We have all worked hard to share our message and I am filled with gratitude for the tremendous support I have experienced. I wish Senator Thibodeau well and congratulate him on a successful campaign.

Getting Out the Vote

By Chip Curry , on November 5, 2012

Tonight was my last night of knocking on doors and hearing from my neighbors all over the county. I've had the pleasure of speaking with some amazing people from Winterport to Lincolnville, and Burnham to Belfast. I've traveled to all 25 towns and 1 city. We have one big beautiful county! I want to thank you for your graciousness, civility, for sharing your stories with me, and for the wonderful conversations.

Please remember: The world is run by those who show up. I need you to show up and vote for me this Tuesday.

Sometimes what is not said is most important

By Chip Curry , on October 31, 2012

Recently my opponent and I completed detailed surveys for the Republican Journal.   The most telling part of my opponent's responses are the questions he chose not to answer.

  • Why aren't there more jobs?
  • What is your position on Women's health issues including insurance coverage for contraception and the option of having an abortion to terminate unwanted pregnancies?
  • How can we help Maine people transition from traditional energy sources, particularly for heat, to renewable sources?

Since Mike Thibodeau chose not to share his views on jobs, women's health, and energy policy, I have to conclude he knows his true beliefs are not shared by most voters.

Click here to see my survey responses

 

 

 

 

Storm preparations

By Chip Curry , on October 29, 2012

Amidst all of your emergency preparations ( water, batteries, wood stored, food, tarps secured etc. )  please pull your campaign signs in for the next couple of days.

Best of Luck

 

Please join us Oct. 9th in Searsport

By Chip Curry , on October 8, 2012

This Tuesday the Waldo County Democrats are hosting a meet the candidate night for me.  The event begins at 7:00 P.M. and will be held at the Democratic headquarters in downtown Searsport. Senator Justin Alfond, the Assistant Democratic Leader, is scheduled to attend.

Please come and:

  • show your support
  • find out more about my values and priorities
  • hear from Senator Alfond on the current state of affairs in Augusta
  • sign up to volunteer for the campaign and county office

 

 

Responses to Republican Journal questions Part 2

By Chip Curry , on October 1, 2012

We have seen a push, particularly from Republicans, for more identification at the polls. What are your thoughts on balancing the need for preventing voter fraud with the need to provide access to citizens wishing to vote?

The people of Maine were correct when we repealed the Republicans law to end election-day voter registration.  Mainers saw this for what it is; a Republican effort to keep people from voting.  Voter fraud is a Republican manufactured issue, lacking any evidence, designed to suppress the vote.
Why aren't there more jobs?
Great question.  Giving rich people tax breaks thus far hasn’t translated to anything more than rich people having more money.  The reality is that our small businesses are our job creators in Waldo County and they need customers that have money.  We need to focus on increasing the wages of working Mainer and strengthening our small business sector.

What is your position on women's health issues including insurance coverage for contraceptives and the option of having abortions to terminate unwanted pregnancies?

I believe in freedom and responsibility.  Women must have the freedom to make their own health care decisions.  These decisions cannot be given over to one’s boss, insurance company, or court.

My responses to questions from the Republican Journal

By Chip Curry , on October 1, 2012

Why are you running?
I am running for State Senate because I believe the Governor and Republican legislature are pursuing a radical conservative agenda, developed by out of state interests, which is wrong for Waldo County and the State.  I know that all of the opportunities I’ve had in my life were possible because of the sacrifices made by my parents’ and grandparents’ generations. I want to make sure my daughter’s generation can grow up strong and healthy and have the opportunity to make a good life right here in Waldo County.

What services do you feel need to be protected from budget cuts?

We have a duty to protect our most vulnerable.  It is so sad that our Republican legislators forced through a budget that makes drastic cuts to Head Start and other early child development services.  It is morally outrageous to withhold the services we know can place a child on a track toward life-long success.  It is also intellectually dishonest to do so in the name of fiscal responsibility.  Our failure to invest in our kids today will cost us far more in the future.

We also have a duty to honor our contracts to current and retired public servants.  These people were not permitted to participate in Social Security.  Their senior years is dependent upon the State honoring its commitments.

School is open… but not for everyone

By Chip Curry , on September 9, 2012

As a teacher in a school that serves 3 - 12 year-olds, I love to watch the new preschool students as they meet their teachers, explore their classroom environment, discover that school is a safe place to learn and grow.

As joyous as this is to watch,  my mind keeps going to the kids Maine is choosing not to serve.  Maine has significantly reduced its support of early child development.  Here in my home town of Belfast, state cutbacks have  caused us to drop an entire Head Start class.  Thirteen three year-olds will not be able to go to preschool because the Governor and the Republican legislature simply believe they are just not worth the expense.  These same cuts are occurring all over the state.

This is wrong.  It is morally wrong for us to abandon these children and it is economically short-sighted.  In the the name of smaller government, and tax cuts that favor our most wealthy, we will pay for these cuts in increased costs to schools and reduced outcomes for youth.

We need another way.  We need to be the stewards of our future.

The Curry for Senate website is launched!

By Chip Curry , on August 1, 2012

Here is an easy way for you to help our campaign. Please bookmark this page, subscribe to the newsletter, and like the curryforsenate facebook page.

By doing these things you will help us to build a a strong network and extend our message across Waldo County. And let me tell you ... we will need a very large network to win this November. Even though my opponent is funded through the clean elections system, I fully expect to be outspent this election. If history is any guide, right-wing out of state interests will once again attempt to drown out all other voices through negative print, mail, and radio ads. By connecting to our campaign via social media, you will help us to keep the focus on the needs of our working class families struggling to succeed here.

If you think you would like to volunteer for the campaign, we'd love to have your help.  Please call or email our volunteer coordinator Christopher Anderson .  He can be reached at 505-2796 or canderson59@me.com.

Sign Sign Everywhere A Sign

By Chip Curry , on July 25, 2012

I had a great day Monday working with a small team of volunteers making our yard signs. This is old school technology which requires a screen, a wooden press, ink, a squeegee, and hundreds of sheets of coated paper. As soon as the sheets were inked we ran them to the farthest free space in the yard to dry. Over the course of our five hour run we slowly surrounded ourselves with a sea of signs! Thanks go out to all of those who helped including Nathan, Betty, Mike, Doat, Steve, and the Knox County Dems! More volunteer days will be scheduled in the near future to make signs and stuff envelopes. If you would like to volunteer please contact our volunteer coordinator Christopher Anderson at 505-2796 or canderson59@me.com.

“We all have moments in our lives when everything changes. The birth of my daughter was one of those moments. Suddenly, the kind of community we live in and the kind of future we are creating mattered a great deal more to me.”

 
Chip Curry has devoted his career to supporting children and teens to grow into strong, healthy and successful young adults. He has taught and advised students from elementary school through college and led state-wide initiatives seeking to strengthen community responses to child poverty.

In his mid-twenties, just out of school, Chip began working and teaching at Unity College, Maine’s premier environmental and conservation-focused school. Over the next seven years he worked to promote student success there as an instructor, academic advisor, and director.

For 10 years Chip led a forty-person AmeriCorps VISTA team here in Maine. AmeriCorps VISTA (the domestic Peace Corps), places full-time, full-year volunteers with communities in order to strengthen their efforts to tackle poverty-related issues. “Our purpose was to identify and strengthen promising community efforts that increase the academic and health outcomes for our most vulnerable children and youth.” Through his leadership the project supported: schools to raise their graduation rates; rural communities to increase access to high-quality early child care; and communities to launch mentoring programs. Through this work Chip also directly supported statewide initiatives including efforts to increase the quality of after-school programs, comprehensively reform Maine’s juvenile justice system, and launch Realize Maine, an ongoing network that seeks to make Maine a viable place for young people to live, work and thrive.

Chip has lived in Waldo County for the past 18 years. Most of that time has been in the town of Knox, though he has also lived in Unity and Thorndike (he also spent one outstanding summer on Freedom Pond). Today he lives in Belfast with his wife Chris Goosman, his young daughter, and his mother–in-law. He is honored to be teaching elementary students, serves on the Parks and Recreation Commission, regularly volunteers with his church, and serves as board President of the community theater company, the Belfast Maskers.

Asked why he is running, Chip doesn’t hesitate. “It’s for my daughter and her classmates. All of the opportunities I’ve had in my life were possible because of the sacrifices made by my parents’ and grandparents’ generations. I want to make sure my daughter’s generation can grow up strong and healthy and have the opportunity to make a good life right here in Waldo County.”

One of my favorite memories as a child was going with my family to the local apple orchard after weekend soccer games. With trees teeming with apples and the bins in the barn spilling over with more varieties than I knew existed, I ran around happily sampling.

 

Apple orchards still give me that sense of joyous abundance, but now when I go with my daughter and my wife, I am also impressed by the understanding that the apple I am eating is literally the fruit of the hard work and investment of apple growers going back years, even decades.

There are many reasons the apple makes a great symbol for this campaign, but it is the long-term investment and hard work that most resonates. We need leaders who will grow our economy, strengthen our schools, rebuild our aging infrastructure, and protect our rural communities. These are my priorities.

As I said, there are many reasons the apple is outstanding.

Quality jobs and a growing economy

We need more opportunities for people to succeed here in Waldo County. We need jobs that pay real wages and businesses that are profitable enough to pay them. For too long we have accepted being in the bottom third of the State when it comes to jobs and economic development. While the rest of the country is beginning to recover the jobs lost in this recession, we continue to wait for our recovery. This is my number one priority. We need to support our start-up entrepreneurs, aid our small businesses and large employers to grow, and attract new businesses to Waldo County.

Education for children and adults

Investing in education, especially education for our youngest children, is one of the wisest investments we can make. The future of our communities is directly tied to the quality of our schools. They are preparing our next generation of entrepreneurs, workers, neighbors, civic leaders, voters, and parents. When the state cuts education funding and fails to honor its historic commitments to schools, children and local tax payers suffer. These decisions are short-sighted and unless a new path is taken my daughter’s generation, our economy, and our communities will suffer.

My Education Priorities

  • Increase access to high-quality early child care and preschool
  • Quality K-12 education for every child
  • Multiple paths toward student success
  • Affordable post-secondary education
  • Strengthen and increase access to community college

Vibrant Rural Communities

One of Waldo County’s greatest assets is its small towns and communities. In our communities we come together to celebrate, care for one another, shop, have fun, mourn, respond to emergencies, and solve problems. We come together in the coffee shops, general stores, churches, playgrounds, granges, sports fields, and town halls. These are the places we connect. Unfortunately many of our community institutions are on shaky ground. We feel the loss of community when the newspaper closes, or the local gas station burns down, when the elementary school students are shipped off to other towns, when the general store is boarded up, and when no new volunteers step up to serve our community organizations.

We need to strengthen the economic viability of our communities and find ways to keep and attract families. Waldo County is not like Bangor, Portland, or Lewiston. The solutions that work for our larger cities do not necessarily work here. My focus is on Waldo County and as Senator I will be committed to bringing our issues forward and finding solutions that serve our communities.

Affordable and Accessible Health Care

About one out of six adults here in Waldo County are without health insurance. They are our neighbors, co-workers, friends, members of our churches; they are us. They can’t get insurance through their work and it is far too expensive for them to buy it on the individual market. So they take a risk and pray nothing serious happens. When something does happen we try to help with fundraisers and change jars placed on the counters of small businesses. As generous as we are, the money is never enough and people often go without care or are bankrupted by their health care bills. Broad access to health care is morally and economically the right thing to do.  Unfortunately, Maine families are worse off because the Governor and the Republican-led legislature has killed legislation that will allow families and businesses to shop for the most affordable health insurance policies.

The health care system and health insurance industry is amazingly complex. We need legislators in Augusta who will fight to increase access to high-quality affordable health care for Maine people. I am driven by the belief that every Maine family should have access to a family doctor.