Eliot Cutler October 16 at the Camden Public Library

Eliot Cutler October 16 at the Camden Public Library

Eliot Cutler will be the featured speaker at the Camden Public Library on Tuesday, October 16, at 7:00 pm as part of the library’s “Red White and Green October” series. Cutler was an independent candidate in the three-way race for Maine governor in 2010. His topic at the library will be “How Can We Make Right What’s Wrong with America–and with Maine?” Cutler has been active since the 2010 campaign creating the OneMaine campaign “for people who believe that our politics need to be more effective and less partisan, and who care less about parties and more about common interests and shared purpose. We are not a political party, but rather a big tent in which Mainers of all stripes – Democrats, Republicans, Greens, and unenrolled independent voters – can collaborate, share ideas and move Maine forward,” he says.

“The traditional political parties have narrowed to the point that their ideological extremes on the left and the right are exerting more influence than ever before,” he continued. “Hyper-partisanship too often hijacks Maine’s civil discourse. It becomes all about ‘my side winning’ and ‘your side losing.’ Corroded and corrupted politics keep us from finding common ground and embracing commonsense solutions.”

The Camden Library traditionally hosts “Green October” speakers on environmental issues, but in recognition of the importance of the upcoming election, the topics are wider ranging. This year the series is called “Red White and Green October,” and speakers range from a futurist thinker, a health insurance innovator, a political pundit, and a pragmatic across-the-aisle politician to a panel on the future of the North Woods

Two years ago, Eliot Cutler came within two percentage points and 9,000 votes of becoming governor. Cutler’s message in this election year is that with the nation’s voters split down the middle and subjected to unprecedented partisan rhetoric, it is important to remember what unites us and what we all need to respect. In his campaign in 2010 Cutler, who ran as an Independent, appealed across party lines to what he considers the large “middle” that makes up Maine’s voters. He believes that many Mainers see things from both sides of the aisle and are both fiscally conservative and socially progressive.

Eliot Cutler grew up in Bangor and attended Harvard and Georgetown Law School. He worked for Sen. Edmund Muskie, and in the Carter administration as the Associate Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Since then he has had a successful career in law and in business.