John Glowa

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No governor of a state should ever be put in the position of having to defend his/her/their state from the federal government. Unbelievably, that is the situation we are in. As governor, I will do everything in my power to protect ALL of the people of Maine from unlawful acts perpetrated by agents of the federal government. This will include using the state police and the national guard, if necessary, to ensure public safety. Maine does not need and will not accept a single murder. Apparently, according to Donald Trump, the murder of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent was a “mistake”. Trump says ICE will sometimes ‘make mistakes’ In my opinion, the shooter should be prosecuted and given the maximum sentence. Also in my opinion, anyone else who encouraged or supported such actions should be prosecuted.

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If elected governor, I will appoint an individual to oversee DEI in all state departments with a goal of maximizing diversity, equity and inclusion in Maine’s government. I will also support and encourage efforts to maximize DEI in Maine’s public and private sectors. There will be no place for discrimination or hate in my administration. They will not be tolerated.

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Our nation is in trouble. Maine is in trouble. Children are dying needlessly of abuse and neglect. Thousands of Mainers are homeless while rent and home prices are skyrocketing. The rich are getting richer while the rest of us are having to fight over the crumbs. Maine's precious environment is being attacked while our state government encourages its destruction. Maine's government is being both inefficient and ineffective without accountability for its actions and inactions. Nothing is being done to reform a rigged system that continues putting those in government and the favored special interests ahead of the people. I want to be your governor because I believe I am the best and most qualified person for the job. I worked in Maine state government for nearly three decades, most of that time in the Executive Branch with the Department of Environmental Protection. I have a B.S. in Economics and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. I ran for the Maine legislature twice and for governor once. I know how government is supposed to work. This is precisely why the politicians in Augusta are fighting to keep me from being elected. Positive change will not come from within this rigged system and those who benefit from it. It must come from outside the system -- from the people. I will listen to you -- not the lobbyists. I will always act on behalf of the public interest -- not the special interests. I will involve you and ask for your help and guidance. I believe in democracy and I will do my best to bring democracy to Maine's government. As an independent governor, I will owe allegiance to no party. We are a deeply polarized state and nation -- the product of power hungry politicians. I will put people first and work to bridge the ideological divides that separate us. Party labels cause too many of us to fail or refuse to see others viewpoints. If we are to survive, we must stop tearing each other down and start building each other up. Mainers are good people. As governor, I pledge to do my best to find common ground and to work with everyone to make Maine the best it can be.

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Maine’s government must do far more to ensure that no one goes hungry.

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I support tribal sovereignty. Tribal sovereignty simply means the right of indigenous people to govern themselves. https://wabanakialliance.com/sovereignty/ The Wabanaki Nations have lived in what is now Maine for thousands of years. They include the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Mi’kmaq Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe, and the Penobscot Nation.

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It is sad to think that some Mainers support these illegal acts of the Trump administration including the killing of innocent people. After I am elected governor, I will hold weekly town hall meetings across Maine. I very much look forward to engaging some of these folks in conversation.

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How many millions of dollars paid to these two companies by Maine residents are leaving Maine and going to Spain, Canada, and elsewhere? As governor, I will continue to support creation of a public, non-profit electric utility. Electricity is an absolute necessity for nearly all of the people of Maine and we should not be at the mercy of for profit, foreign corporations. I will support energy conservation to decrease demand relative to supply. I will support expanding electrical generating capacity through renewable means and I will encourage consideration of small scale nuclear power generating facilities. Maine must keep abreast of constantly changing technologies for wind, water, solar and nuclear power production. Regarding solar generation, facilities should be sited where they will do the least environmental and economic harm. Parking lots, rooftops, brownfields, etc. should be preferred locations. They should not be installed where they destroy or render inaccessible, valuable farmland.

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I promise to lead by example. I will strongly encourage others to do the same. There is a poison called HATE spreading across America. The antidote is LOVE.

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Maine now provides free school lunches to children. https://www.fullplates.org/school-meals-for-all This may be the only meal a child can be sure of in his/her day. Maine’s elderly also need help. They frequently have no one to turn to. Programs such as Meals on Wheels provide a great service to elderly Mainers but we must make sure that everyone who needs help gets it. https://www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org/find-meals-and-services/

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As governor, I will implement a continuous improvement process. This is something that Maine’s government does not have and has never had. Maine elects politicians, bureaucrats, or businessmen for governor. None of these is focused on public service and how to run a government. Maine does not need a politician in the Blaine House. Maine needs someone who knows how government is supposed to work and who has the guts to do what needs to be done FOR THE PEOPLE AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST.

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In 2019, the state government issued a report titled Maine’s Roadmap to End Hunger by 2030. https://www.maine.gov/future/hunger The state in this report completely ignored food security problems of the elderly and children who live in unstable homes. It also made no recommendations to increase state funding to help solve this problem. What it did was to pass the buck to the federal government and private organizations. The report was typical bureaucratic gobbledygook with no firm plan, timetables or accountability. In summary, Maine’s government can and must make food insecurity a higher priority and invest more public resources to ensure that no one goes hungry, and that everyone has nutritious food available. While the private sector is doing a great job, thousands of Mainers should not have to rely so heavily on volunteers and donations to feed them.

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I very strongly support small businesses and entrepreneurship. They are the economic backbone of Maine’s economy. We often hear meaningless political platitudes like “I support more jobs”. These politicians are simply trying to get elected. Of course everybody supports more jobs. These politicians have no plan for creating the jobs. They merely want your vote.

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The only way to boost Maine’s employment and economy is to provide an excellent public education for our children. We need to teach them how to live in society, since many are not learning this at home. We need to teach them not only how to start and run a successful business, but that they CAN start and run a successful business. I work part-time to supplement my pension and Social Security. I hear and see frequently that many young people simply don’t want to work. I also see many young people who work hard and are proud of what they do.

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There is no silver bullet. Maine’s economy is tied to the national economy. Manufacturing is all but dead. What Maine does have that much of the nation does not have is an abundance of natural resources and tremendous beauty. We need to develop these resources without destroying them. We must grow our tourism and especially our ecotourism industries. We must grow our agriculture and take advantage of the many thousands of acres of arable land that sit idle. Maine is the most heavily forested state in the nation. We must SUSTAINABLY manage our forests while taking care not to destroy them and the wildlife that they harbor. We must have SUSTAINABLE, environmentally friendly ocean based seafood industries. We must take advantage of our location and quality of life and develop the huge potential for remote internet-based businesses.

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We must change our attitude from “Maine has little opportunity” to “Maine’s economic potential is tremendous. We can and must create our own opportunities to reach our fullest potential.”

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Forestry, fishing and farming have always been cornerstones of our economy. As these have declined in relative importance, our tremendous diversity of small businesses have picked up the slack. We must continue to support our small businesses and incentivize their establishment and success. Publicly provided seed monies and start-up loans should be more widely available. We must encourage entrepreneurship and teach our young people the skills needed to start and successfully run a business. There is no valid reason for Mainers not to succeed when people from other states move here, start a small business, and thrive.

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I support short-term solutions for the homeless such as constructing so-called pallet shelter villages until they can get their lives in order https://palletshelter.com/build-a-village/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT0_HQrtklA I also support expanding Maine’s Housing First program https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/22/title22sec20-A.html .

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Maine’s government must recognize that the State of Maine and the Wabanaki Nations are co-equals. It is way past time to honor their sovereign right to govern themselves. Sovereignty will be a win-win for Maine’s indigenous people and for the State of Maine as the former grow their economy, become more prosperous, and bring more prosperity to the regions in which they live and work.

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Giant wind turbines are both an eyesore and a threat to wildlife. New technologies such as bladeless, are being developed that are far less visually and environmentally intrusive. Vertical wind turbines can also be an excellent supplement to solar panels on a small scale. I support properly sited, environmentally safe wind power. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/16/good-vibrations-bladeless-turbines-could-bring-wind-power-to-your-home

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Here is one version of the continuous improvement process. As governor, I will start at the very beginning. First, we need people who are qualified and capable of overseeing this process. One of my first actions as governor will be to appoint a blue-ribbon panel of apolitical government experts. We will conduct a global search for some of the best minds on the planet and commit whatever resources are necessary. Reforming Maine’s rigged and dysfunctional government into a government that is democratic, efficient and effective is the most important thing we can do. It is something that I expect none of the gubernatorial candidates will even discuss.

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Welcome to the Glowa for Governor website. My name is John M. Glowa, Sr. and I want to be our next governor as an independent. Let me be very clear. I am not part of the Augusta political establishment so I need your help to put together a true grassroots campaign of the people, by the people and for the people. If you want a governor who is the typical career politician who will tell you what you want to hear just to get your vote, you can stop reading. If you want a governor who is not a politician, who will tell you the truth, who has had a career in public service, and who knows how government is supposed to work, I hope you’ll consider me.

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I write this to let you know that I have been there. My mother was lucky. She had a son to help her. Unfortunately, many of Maine’s elderly have no one or are neglected by family. Maine must put people first. We must re-prioritize our spending, work more efficiently and effectively, and restructure our tax system to have the resources needed to help our seniors and their families. We must focus our resources on those who need them the most. As the state with the highest median age, we have a lot of work to do.

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The costs of buying and renting housing have skyrocketed. This is largely driven by supply and demand and was inevitable. Our state government was asleep at the wheel as prices rose beyond affordability for most Mainers. My goal will be to fund and/or finance through the Maine State Housing Authority https://www.mainehousing.org/ the construction of at least ten thousand low rent permanent public housing units. We will also set up interest bearing accounts for every resident of this public housing. A portion of their rent payments will go into this account which will only be used to purchase a home.

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I support consideration of new nuclear generating facilities, especially small modular reactors. Their environmental impact (e.g. less water usage) is much less than traditional nuclear reactors. They should not be a preferred means of power generation, but their use should not be ruled out. https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/what-are-small-modular-reactors-smrs

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The panel will have to start at the very beginning. Maine’s government has never had a reboot in its 200+ year history. The first step will be to establish the process by which the panel will conduct its business. The second step is critically important and will require extensive public input. We must identify the issues and problems. We must hear from Maine people about the problems they have encountered with Maine government. Really listening to the people on such a holistic scale is something that Maine government has never done before.

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Generally speaking, Maine needs to spend more public monies helping people who need help. This money will largely come from shifting existing tax revenues to housing and homeless programs, increasing tax contributions from the wealthy, operating government more efficiently and effectively, eliminating special interest tax exemptions, and carefully identifying and decreasing waste, fraud and abuse of public funds and programs.

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We must identify, preserve and protect those places that make Maine so special. As governor, I will establish a Quality of Place task force whose function is to do just that. Change is a fact of life and much of Maine has changed drastically in just a few decades. We can and must direct and control that change to minimize negative impacts to our environment and natural resource-based economy.

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Implementing changes will be perhaps the most difficult step in the process. Much of it will require legislative approval. Getting politics out of the executive branch does not mean that the legislative branch will follow. As governor, I will have no real legal control over the legislature. As an independent, I believe I have a far greater chance of bringing the legislature together than a member of either political party.

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The construction of hydroelectric dams has caused great environmental and economic harm by destroying wildlife habitat and blocking fish passage. I support removing the four lower dams on the Kennebec River given their relatively small contribution to the supply of electricity and the potential economic and environmental benefits of a free flowing river. I support removing or bypassing other hydroelectric dams as appropriate. I support installation of dam free kinetic hydropower facilities where they are suitable and create little or no environmental harm. https://blog.ansi.org/ansi/tidal-power-turbines-in-east-river/

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The last two steps of the continuous improvement process; review performance and optimize, are virtually absent from Maine’s government. They are the checks and balances that are necessary to a properly functioning government. Maine’s legislature is great for establishing programs, but it conducts little or no effective oversight of these programs. In truth, the legislature only knows what the governor wants them to know. The checks and balances between the branches of government effectively do not exist. Programs, policies and procedures in all branches of government must be periodically reviewed and optimized. This is continuous improvement and as governor, we will begin implementation of continuous improvement on day one.

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I supported the Pine Tree Power referendum to purchase Central Maine Power and Versant. https://www.maine.gov/meopa/electricity/utilities I still support purchasing these two entities and forming a customer owned non-profit. https://ctmirror.org/2023/11/11/maine-public-power-company-referendum-vote/