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Five Things to Know about Chellie
1. Chellie comes from a close-knit middle-class family, is the mother of three grown children and is a grandmother.
2. Chellie is a successful entrepreneur and small business owner who understands the importance of creating and sustaining jobs in Maine.
3. Chellie has shown a lifelong commitment to environmental protection.
4. Chellie has already achieved real healthcare reform of national importance.
5. As the Maine Senate majority leader and president and CEO of Common Cause, Chellie earned a reputation for taking on tough fights -- and winning -- through principled negotiations, working with colleagues and the community, and saying what needs to be said and doing what needs to be done -- even when it's hard to do and isn't politically popular.
1. Chellie comes from a close-knit middle-class family, is the mother of three grown children and is a grandmother. Her father was an accountant and her mom was a nurse. On top of running a business and raising her children, Chellie volunteered for public service; she eventually became the chair of the North Haven school board -- which she still says is the toughest political job there is. In 1992, she was elected to the Maine Senate, and served as Senate majority leader in her last four years, before being term-limited. Chellie's oldest child, Hannah, followed in her mother's footsteps and is now serving as a state representative and is the majority leader of the Maine House of Representatives.
2. Chellie is a successful entrepreneur and small business owner who understands the importance of creating and sustaining jobs in Maine. In the 1980s, Chellie started a business called North Island Designs, which sold yarn and knitting kits to thousands of stores across the country and provided year-round jobs to ten North Haven women for many years. More recently, she opened Nebo Lodge, an inn and restaurant in North Haven. Her experience as a small business owner gives her a realistic perspective of the economic needs of both employers and workers. Chellie has been endorsed by a number of unions, including the UAW and the Teamsters Local 340.
3. Chellie has shown a lifelong commitment to environmental protection, beginning with her degree in Human Ecology from the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, continuing with her experience as an organic farmer and as an early staff member of Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), and extending to her work in the Maine Senate, where she sponsored a bill to start the Farms for Maine's Future program and helped pass Maine's largest ever public land bond (Land for Maine's Future). Chellie received recognition from the Natural Resources Council of Maine for her work on behalf of Maine's environment and has been endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters and Friends of the Earth Action.
4. Chellie has already achieved real healthcare reform of national importance. After witnessing her brother Bob's struggle with terminal cancer, his insurance coverage, and the devastating effect on his illness on his family's finances, Chellie translated her personal zeal for healthcare reform into Maine legislation with national influence. She led the effort to pass the Maine Rx law, which made it possible for Maine to negotiate prices on prescription drugs. Against all odds, she succeeded in beating the drug companies by building a strong coalition of legislators, healthcare activists, and citizens.
5. As the Maine Senate majority leader and then president and CEO of Common Cause, Chellie earned a reputation for taking on tough fights - and winning - through principled negotiations, working with colleagues and the community, and saying what needs to be said and doing what needs to be done - even when it's hard to do and isn't politically popular. As a state senator, she fought against Big PHARMA, one of the most powerful special interests in the country; stood up to MBNA and Nautica Corporation when they threatened the interests of their employees in her district. While campaigning against Senator Collins in 2002, Chellie clearly stated her opposition to going to war in Iraq, even though political experts warned her that it might harm her election chances. As the president and CEO of Common Cause from 2003 to 2007, she fought the huge media conglomerates on the issue of media reform, lobbied congressional leaders about ethics reform, and spoke out early in the media about the abuses by Haliburton and other contractors in Iraq. Chellie has always stood up for what's right, no matter how powerful the interests on the other side.
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