A carpenter from Canaan challenging two-time incumbent state Sen. Rodney Whittemore of Skowhegan is raising issues of welfare reform and MaineCare expansion in the race for a state Senate seat covering a large portion of Somerset County.

Craig Heavey, 65, a Democrat, faces Whittemore, 67, a Republican, in the race to represent Senate District 3, which includes Anson, Bingham, Canaan, Embden, Madison, Mercer, Norridgewock, Pittsfield and Skowhegan as well as 19 other communities.

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Senate District 3

Rome, Anson, Bingham, Canaan, Caratunk, central Somerset unorganized territories, Cornville, Dennistown Plantation, Embden, Highland Plantation, Jackman, Madison, Mercer, Moose River, Moscow, New Portland, Norridgewock, Northeast Somerset unorganized territory (includes Rockwood Strip Twp.), Northwest Somerset unorganized territory, Pittsfield, Pleasant Ridge Plantation, Seboomook Lake Unorganized Territory, Skowhegan, Smithfield, Solon, Starks, The Forks Plantation, West Forks Plantation and unorganized territories in northeast and central Somerset County.

Name: Craig Heavey

Age: 65

Town: Canaan

Party: Democrat

Profession: Self-employed carpenter and contractor, Sunshine Design

Education: Wayland (Mass.) High School 1967; bachelor of science degree from Illinois Institute of Technology, 1971

Political experience: Canaan Democratic Committee chairman, 1984-2010; Canaan Planning Board, 1984-2010

Name: Rodney Whittemore

Age: 67

Town: Skowhegan

Party: Republican

Profession: Owner Whittemore and Sons

Education: Skowhegan Area High School, 1964; six years in the Army National Guard with the 112th Air Ambulance Company

Political experience: Senate District 26 2010-2014; Skowhegan Planning Board

The economy, job market and cost of energy are high on the list of issues important to both candidates.

“There are huge problems in Somerset County,” said Heavey, who is originally from Massachusetts but has lived in Maine since 1975. “Paper mills are struggling, industry is closing down and it is getting harder to compete with other states for business.”

As a solution, he suggested using Maine’s resources, buying locally made products and supporting local businesses like the Somerset Grist Mill in Skowhegan.

“Jobs are probably the one thing everyone should be focusing on,” said Whittemore, the owner of Whittemore and Sons in Skowhegan. “How do we attract employers to come to the state, open up shop and create jobs?”

There are a couple reasons why more businesses are not opening up in Maine, including a need for regulatory reforms, too many union regulations and the high cost of energy, according to Whittemore, who said that addressing these problems would be a way to attract more business to the state. He also added that he is a proponent of bringing natural gas to more homeowners and businesses in Maine as a cost savings initiative.

Heavey also had ideas for lowering energy costs in the state, including starting fuel cooperatives to lower the cost of fuel oil and providing subsidizing energy efficient homes.

Both candidates said state budget issues are important, but had very different ideas on how to balance the budget.

Heavey, who describes himself as a “conservative Democrat,” said that in the last session, the Legislature cut revenue sharing too much and the effect has been to make municipalities desperate for money. As a way to balance the state budget, he suggested making up for shortfalls with increases in the state’s income and sales taxes.

For Whittemore, who is originally from Skowhegan, growth in the state’s Medicaid expenditures has been the biggest barrier to a balanced budget.

“One of the big problems with MaineCare is that it’s free, so if someone had a headache, they would just go to the emergency room,” he said. “There’s no reason to go to the emergency room with a headache. People think that just because they have free insurance they can run to the emergency room, and that gets very expensive.”

As the chair of the Legislature’s Insurance, Finance and Securities Committee in the 125th session and a member of the committee in the 126th, Whittemore said he worked on passing Public Law 90, which deregulated Maine’s insurance market and opened the market to out-of-state insurance companies. He said that the federal Affordable Care Act has undermined the state law, preventing insurance companies from doing business in Maine.

“The private market can’t compete with these heavily subsidized insurance policies,” he said. “I think it’s a troubling thing because somebody’s going to have to be supporting this, and quite frankly I don’t think its going to be sustainable.”

Heavey, however, said he supports Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act because it would provide insurance for more Mainers who cannot afford it.

“Some families are trapped by the present limits,” he said. “If they supplement their income, they lose their health care. If they go to the next level (of coverage), their children lose theirs. It is very hard for a single-income family to get ahead.”

He also said that the economy of Somerset County would benefit from MaineCare expansion by stimulating cash flow.

“There has been too much demonizing of the poor and too little in the way of solutions,” said Heavey, who said the state needs to focus more on creating an economy that will allow people to have jobs and earn enough money to support themselves and their families, and not focus on welfare reform.

Whittemore, on the other hand, said he believes that welfare reform is necessary, especially to prevent the abuse of cash that comes from EBT cards.

“More needs to be done, and we are working on that,” he said. “The governor has been doing a really good job along with DHHS. They’ve been working very hard to find ways to stop that fraud and there’s been a lot of it going on. If you don’t get a handle on it it gets really out of control fast.”

Rachel Ohm — 612-2368

rohm@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @rachel_ohm