​During my 8 years as a State Senator and Representative for our area, I took on the political establishment, the engrained special interests, and high-paid lobbyists to shake up a broken system. While it didn’t always make me the most popular legislator in Augusta, someone needed to stand up and do what was right over what was easy.
 
I worked every single day to reduce the corrupting influence of money in our politics and specifically, where that money was coming from that sought to pad their bottom line through policy change.
 
My crowning legislative achievement was introducing and passing a comprehensive campaign finance and ethics reform package in my final term in the Senate. It took many years of educating, prodding, and begging my colleagues to finally make it happen. It’s something the public has been wanting for quite some time, but was opposed by those with any semblance of power. People with power tend to want to hold onto that power by the same means that put them there. That usually means keeping a pay-for-play system in place that benefits them.
 
The package that ultimately became law included banning lobbyist contributions to sitting lawmakers and candidates, ending the use of PACs (political action committees) as private slush funds, ensure enforcement of ethics rules around legislator-led caucus PACs, and shutting the revolving door of lawmakers becoming lobbyists by banning lobbyist activity for a full year after legislative service ends. In total, I was able to shepherd four campaign finance and ethics reforms bills across the finish line, representing some of the biggest victories on this front in recent memory.
 
Our policymakers, as with our elections, should not be dictated by those who write the biggest checks. While we’ve made monumental progress on this front, there is always more work to do. 

Three area high school students have been awarded a total of $1,500 in college scholarships from the Chenette Scholarship Fund.

The foundation’s Leadership Scholarship is awarded each year to students at Thornton Academy, Old Orchard Beach High School, and Bonny Eagle who exemplify qualities of community leadership and civic engagement. This year’s recipients are Tyler MacVane, Derrick Webber, and Gregory Brunk.
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“Their passion for helping others is truly their authentic form of self-expression,” said Justin Chenette, York County Commissioner and founder of the scholarship. “No matter their chosen path in life, their futures will involve making a difference and improving the quality of life of those around them.”

​While it’s gotten more divisive in recent years, I do believe pride can be a great unifier and bring us together in celebration and recognition of our shared humanity, love, and diversity. While the basics of the human experience might be universal, there are different groups of people who have struggled with the pursuit of happiness because of society’s slow pace towards progress.
 
It’s great seeing so many communities host pride events, whether it be via a parade, festival, walk, or some unique way to bring people together. Pride events can help promote an atmosphere of acceptance and inclusivity while creating a safe place to truly be your authentic self. The strong sense of community and support from fellow LGBTQ+ people and allies can be extremely helpful to those struggling with their sexuality or gender identity. It can give you a sense of not being so alone in your journey. That there are others out there like you and who share your values.
 
During Pride Month in particular, the focus can feel external, the progress made on equal rights, the policy work still ahead, the acceptance or lack thereof from others, but at the heart of the often colorful display of self-expression is a personal journey towards self-acceptance and self-love. Pride helps individuals feel seen and valued.
 
Creating a more inclusive society, free from harm and discrimination of marginalized communities, takes deliberate and intentional leadership from those within positions of power.

​With each passing storm, the severity of the damage and erosion seem to be getting worse. It’s becoming a very common occurrence to hear about disaster declarations being called for our county. This trend is headed in the wrong direction. We must do everything we can, everything at our disposal, to protect homes, businesses, and our quality of life.
 
Our coastal communities will soon have a critical tool to help restore our dunes and beaches and make our coast more resilient to future storms. York County Commissioners are moving forward with operationalizing a dredge, first purchased with Federal relief dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act.
 
During construction of the dredge by Ellicott in Maryland, county officials were busy determining the appropriate path forward for operations. While the initial intent was to transfer ownership to a new outside nonprofit entity to handle operations, Federal rules around how that would work kept putting up roadblocks. It was becoming clear that county-led operations, with dredge contractors and specific municipal contracts for dredge projects would be the ideal path.
 
After construction, the dredge was housed temporarily at Saco Public Works and in April the dredge was transported to the Portland Pier where it could be worked on. Final assembly and painting were required to get the machinery ready to get into the water. In May, the dredge was towed down to Wells Harbor where it will be moored until operations can begin.