June 4, 2012 -- I met up with Kevin Raye in Presque Isle, at Amato's Pizza across from the Braden Theater, and we discussed the last session of the Maine State Legislature in general and the State Senate, over which he presides, specifically.
In my introduction, I mistakenly stated that he was running for United States Senate, when in fact, he is running against Representative Mike Michaud for the United States House of Representatives.
This interview is not about that aspect of Kevin's political life though we have interviewed him on that aspect as well. That interview is here: Kevin Raye's Run for the House.
Our discussion of the 125th Legislature, on the other hand, is below. In this discussion, Kevin talked about how the 125th balanced the budget, reduced the MaineCare rolls, passed welfare reform, reduced debt, reformed LURC, passed regulatory reform, and maintained the commitment to education.
On MaineCare:
"MaineCare is not for able-bodied adults. MaineCare is for the vulnerable citizens among us: disabled folks, elderly folks, children in poor families. Over the years, previous legislatures and previous governors have expanded that system to include too many able-bodied people between the ages of 18 and 60. And so, we have begun to pare that back; to remove those people from the MaineCare rolls and focus on the truly vulnerable."
Listen to the interview here:
If your browser does not render this correctly, you can use this link.