A state representative and a town selectman are vying for the chance to be the Republican candidate in the race for the state Senate District 20.

Either House Rep. Les Fossel, of Alna, or Stuart Smith, of Edgecomb, will take on Sen. Christopher Johnson, the incumbent Democrat from Somerville who upset former Rep. Dana Dow in a February special election. Fossel lost a county caucus vote for Dow’s spot in that election and Smith said he kicked off a run but was asked to bow out.

The district serves Windsor, Friendship, Washington and every Lincoln County town but Dresden.

Fossel, 65, a two-term legislator and restoration contractor, said with his three assignments on legislative committees — Health and Human Services, Judiciary and Government Oversight — his workload is “way over the top vis-à-vis anybody outside of Appropriations.”

“I don’t say no and leadership finds me useful,” he said. “I find common ground and try to make things work.”

Smith, 49, a self-employed computer programmer who is a selectman in Edgecomb and is on the State Board of Corrections, said as selectman he sees burdens that state government places on small towns. He said Edgecomb’s elementary school recently had to manage a $90,000 budget shortfall, a storm they could only weather because of past fiscal responsibility.

“We’ve managed it well,” he said. “It’s that kind of management you need that you don’t see at the higher level.”

Smith said Fossel, who also chairs the Legislature’s unofficial moderate caucus, shifted in his recent leadership on L.D. 1810, a controversial bill that would have allowed compensation to landowners if a property loses 50 percent or more of its value because of state regulation. The bill was killed in May by the state Senate after narrowly passing the House by a mostly partisan vote in April.

Fossel said he plans to bring back another version next session.

“The one word that separates me from Les is ‘integrity,'” Smith said. “If I believe a certain way on a subject, I’m not going to waffle on it.

Fossel scoffs at that assertion, calling Smith’s claims “insane.” Fossel said he entered the Judiciary Committee in February with the bill in front of him and had to unite a majority and minority of committee members who didn’t see eye to eye.

“What Stuart is saying is reflective of his ignorance of the process,” Fossel said. “And that’s not surprising.”

Fossel said he ended up working with Avery Day, a lobbyist for Pierce Atwood, to revise the bill starting with the minority Judiciary Committee report the Legislature accepted with that vote. Along the way, he said he was attacked by interest groups from the left and right who thought he was too aggressive and not aggressive enough in shepherding the takings bill through passage.

“If you insist on having your way, nobody’s going to talk to you,” he said. “We were looking for common ground.”

Fossel said he’s been able to unite groups of Republicans, referencing his unanimous election as Lincoln County caucus chair at the conflict-fraught Republican State Convention in Augusta in early May.

“If he thinks I lack integrity, he ought to talk to Republicans in Lincoln County,” Fossel said of Smith. “From most peoples’ perspective that would be completely untrue.”

Smith said he was running to the right of Fossel and is looking to be a voice for small business-friendly legislation and keeping local property taxes low.

“This county, like a lot of counties to the east and north, has a lot of small businesses,” Smith said. “I say small businesses, but a lot of them are sole proprietors.”

Fossel said he is a fiscal conservative and social libertarian who has attended meetings upon invitation by both tea party and Occupy Wall Street-affiliated groups.

“I think it’s fair to say he is more conservative than I am — at least that’s what his supporters think,” he said of Smith.

Fossel said because Maine has citizen legislators and term limits, experience is at a premium. His dedication over his time served

“I have vastly more experience than he does both in the Legislature and out,” said Fossel of Smith. “Other than computer programming I have more experience in everything that he has experience in.”

Michael Shepherd — 621-5632

mshepherd@mainetoday.com

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