Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories that will preview local contested races for the state House and Senate in the primary election.

The two Democrats running for the chance to take on a three-term Republican incumbent for the Senate District comprising southern Kennebec County come from very different backgrounds.

Additional Photos

David Bustin, 73, of Hallowell, is a former city mayor and Augusta insider who was the state’s personnel commissioner under former Gov. Joseph Brennan in the 1970s and ’80s. He also served four legislative terms in the House of Representatives in the 1970s and is on the State Panel of Mediators, working on disputes within state and local governments.

Priscilla Jenkins, 68, of Winthrop, is a substitute teacher and town selectwoman who moved to Maine 12 years ago after a career as a computer programmer and analyst working for Fortune 500 companies, including CitiBank.

“She’s a nice lady with a good heart,” Bustin said of Jenkins. “But my experience in state and local government is stronger and I think I’ll be able to be a lot more effective, quicker.”

But Jenkins sees things differently.

“I believe that not being a part of the old school is beneficial now,” Jenkins said. “The lobbyists don’t know me.”

Senate District 21 serves Gardiner, Winthrop, Manchester, Monmouth, Randolph, West Gardiner, Farmingdale, Litchfield, Pittston, Chelsea and Hallowell. Now, it is represented by Sen. Earle McCormick, R-West Gardiner.

“His record of support is very much in favor of the governor,” Bustin said of McCormick.

Jenkins pointed to Head Start as an example of one successful program that has been the subject of proposed cuts and said McCormick should have stood up for it.

Head Start sustained $2 million in cuts in a state budget rewrite, signed by Gov. Paul LePage in May, aimed at making up for an $83 million Department of Health and Human Services’ shortfall. The budget also removed 21,500 from the MaineCare rolls, including all 19- and 20-year-olds — about 7,000 people of that total.

“If someone needs disability coverage, they need it, whether they’re 20 or 52,” Bustin said. “The governor and the Legislature are targeting groups that really don’t have much power fighting back.”

“I know we’re in tough times, but I think we’re making it harder on ourselves,” Jenkins said. “I think there’s a lot more fraud in business than in welfare.”

Bustin said he expects more deregulating legislation to be proposed by Republican leadership in the next session, ticking off a list of his concerns such as the weakening of environmental laws and bargaining rights of state workers, and changes in contracts for state retirees.

“I think that a Democratic Senate could look at the monies available and put together a budget that helps people more than not,” he said.

Jenkins said she is also concerned with changes in retiree benefits in the biennial budget Legislature enacted and LePage approved last year, including the elimination of cost-of-living adjustments for three years, a cap on cost-of-living increases and limits on future adjustments.

“If they can cut contracts here, they can cut contracts anywhere,” she said. “It takes away from the faith we have when the government makes a contract.”

Bustin said he hasn’t yet examined the state’s budget and can’t recommend individual cuts in certain areas. But legislative Republicans haven’t been creative enough, he said.

“I think it’s because the people are angry. They’re hurting financially,” he said. “That makes them want to say, ‘cut, cut, cut.'”

Michael Shepherd — 621-5632

mshepherd@mainetoday.com

MORE ONLINE

To view questionnaires filled out by the candidates, visit our voters’ guide for the state Legislature at www.kjonline.com.