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As members of the Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition and PenBay Stewards, we were happy to learn that Jan Dodge, D-Belfast, Belmont and Northport, has been endorsed by the Sierra Club in her bid for reelection to the Maine House of Representatives.
We had long been aware of Dodge’s extensive work in support of educational initiatives. The longtime educator introduced a bill to require a minimum 30-minute lunch period in schools so that students have enough time to eat, with the side benefit of throwing less food away. She also sponsored a bill ( LD 167) that prohibits punishing, openly identifying or stigmatizing a student who cannot pay a lunch bill or who has payments due.
She has also penned a bill, later signed into law, to increase access to life-saving naloxone. She has earned high marks for supporting public employees’ retirement benefits and received a 100 percent rating from the state employee labor union. Other 100 percent scores based on her voting record come from Planned Parenthood ME Action Fund, Maine Women’s Lobby and the Gun Safety Coalition.
Dodge’s record is clear, as is the purpose behind it: She wants to help create communities that work for everyone.
Jeff and Kris Shula
Belfast
