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8. Peter Mills 'Teach Your Children Well'

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8. Peter Mills 'Teach Your Children Well' 8. Peter Mills ‘Teach Your Children Well’ October 24, 2013 Introduction eter Mills is the senior member of one of Maine’s most distinguished and accom- Pplished families; and I must thank his younger brother, Paul, for much of this introduc- tion. Just imagine, if you will, a Christian fam- ily blessed with two brilliant sons, one Peter and one Paul. What a family dynamic that must have set up! Then there were two daughters, as well; but more about that later. So far as is known, the Mills family is one of just two families in all Maine history who sent three generations of sons, with the very same name, to serve in the Maine Senate. Peter’s grandfather whose name he bears served two terms in the Maine Senate, representing Hancock County. His father, whose name he also bears, served two terms in the Maine Senate before being appointed U.S. Attorney for Maine by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, where he served for 16 years. Peter, himself, using his several forbears’ name to excellent advantage, has served no fewer than six terms in the Maine Senate, where he distinguished himself with a principled, pragmatic, and bipartisan approach to the challenges facing Maine. Can any of you tell me the other Maine family that has County men, one in all. sent three generations to the Maine Senate, with the very Peter Mills has a number of distinguished family same name? Any guesses? Well, it is the Collins family members of his own in service to Maine. His wife, Nancy, of Caribou, none other than that of Maine’s senior U.S. is a Justice of the Maine Superior Court. His sister Janet Senator, the much admired Susan Collins. Her great-great has served as the first elected female district attorney in grandfather, Samuel W. Collins, a Democrat, went to the Maine history, and in the Maine House of Representatives; Maine Senate; as did her grandfather Samuel W. Collins, today she is Maine’s Attorney General. His sister Dora, a a Republican; as did her uncle, Samuel W. Collins; and, physician, served as Maine’s Director of Public Health in indeed, as did her own father and my personal friend, the administrations of governors Angus King and John Donald Collins. Very fine, practical, and accomplished Baldacci; and is now Vice-President of the University of POLITICS THEN AND NOW: IN MAINE AND THE NATION 371 New England. So we have sisters in the family, as well, the remedy is, they sometimes come up a little short. Janet and Dora; I’m surprised their parents didn’t name Joseph McDonnell, Dean of the College that houses them Mary and Martha. the Muskie School, just this past week wrote a very fine His brother Paul, my teacher in all this, continues to piece in the Portland Press Herald, reminding us of the “hold down the fort” as an attorney in private practice day in 1950 when Sen. Margaret Chase Smith took on the in Farmington, where he is widely known for his shrewd communist-baiting Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wiscon- and perceptive writings on Maine political history and sin. I was seven years old. I had campaigned with Mar- public affairs. Paul also has moderated more than 140 garet in 1948, my earliest memory of politics, in the front town meetings in Franklin and Somerset Counties, seat of a Chevrolet coupe that my father drove. I can re- where he remains, as he likes to say, “undefeated in member being allowed to sit in the front seat because in a his perpetual quest for minor public office, 140 times Chevy coupe, if you were five years old and you sat in the without a single defeat.” back, you could see nothing, the windows were so small; Today, Peter Mills is and Margaret insisted that my father permit her to ride in “(If I had but one wish executive director of the the rear and me up front. for eternal life) I would Maine Turnpike Authori- There are Republicans of that character and calibre choose to be a member ty. Because of his family’s even today in government. We have seen examples of own Aroostook roots, Pe- how some have responded recently in the U.S. Senate; of the Maine Legislature ter claims to be related as and we see the likes of them today in the Maine Legisla- during the last three a very distant cousin to ture, as well. Do not despair for the future of the Repub- weeks of each legislative virtually every citizen of lican Party! Maine. For example, he’s session. I have had 16 a distant cousin to Kay A Creature of True Democracy of these experiences, Rand of Ashland, U.S. When you get to be 70 years old, as I did last June, you Senator Angus King’s and I have never felt begin to watch movies like The Bucket List, where two Chief of Staff in Wash- old codgers begin to dream up things they might like to more intensely alive, ington D.C; and a distant do before they kick the bucket. I’m a little more fond of more useful, more cousin to Linda Green- thinking about my bucket list in reverse. In other words, law, the famous offshore engaged, more thrilled let’s suppose the grim reaper came by to see me and said, fishing boat captain and “Mr. Mills, I have some bad news. We’re about to take with my life.” author. This proves the you away, tomorrow; you have but another day. That’s case, of course, that if the bad news. The good news is, for reasons completely you and your family will not understood by me, my superiors have decided that spend a little time in Aroostook County, you will become you should have until tomorrow to tell us what it is that related to everyone else in Maine within three genera- you want to do up there for the rest of eternity. When tions. Peter may even be related to each of you here today. I come back for you tomorrow, I would like your deci- It is my great personal pleasure to introduce a good sion”. friend and genuine Maine hero in the continuing quest for Well, it sets you to thinking, doesn’t it? Would you practical and useful government for all Maine people, S. like to spend your time listening to Brandenburg concer- Peter Mills, III, of Cornville and Portland, Maine. (R.B.) tos at Merrill Hall; or maybe watching Bob Dylan and Joan Baez one more time sing that duet, Forever Young, ETER MILLS: It is impossible for me to begin at the State Theater. Would you like to be seated at your without saying a few words about this series. Dick favorite banquette at Back Bay Grill, or sailing down PBarringer and Ken Palmer have done yeoman’s Eggemoggin Reach with your grandchildren in a boat work putting it together. I have listened to all of the pre- and a light breeze on the starb’d quarter ? Lots of things? ceding talks and been thrilled with them. (The idea of being entertained by 70 virgins has never I need to also point out that it is very easy for those of appealed to me. I think they would grow old. At least, us in politics to talk about all the problems we face. In- I think my affiliation would be unproductive and some- deed, many Maine people start out in politics by writing what boring after a while.) a book. Eliot Cutler has written one recently. Angus King I can tell you what my answer would be without equiv- wrote one. Others have written them, saying, “Here’s the ocation. I would choose to be injected as a member of the situation.” Without being critical of any one of these, I Maine Legislature – and Maine in particular – during the find that it’s very common to rehearse with graphs and last three weeks of each legislative session. I have had charts all of the problems that this state and the country 16 of these experiences, and I have never in my life felt face; and when you get to the last chapter, to find out what more intensely alive, more useful, more engaged, more 72 POLITICS THEN AND NOW: IN MAINE AND THE NATION thrilled with my life, than to spend that time playing a It’s not easy to get there. I remember having been in game of bridge with 185 other players, being lobbied all the Legislature for 12 years when I ran for governor and the way into the men’s room, sometimes by female lob- lost. The people of Somerset County were kind enough byists, people tugging at your sleeve all the while. to nominate me again for my Senate seat, and I had on It’s an ego bath of sorts, everybody wants your attention occasion lost the little town of Moscow. Moscow had a and vote. You’re required to stand up on short notice, some- number of Democrats and they were a tough audience for times with no preparation, to argue vehemently a cause that me. I remember going around to all the back roads and you may believe in or oppose. It is extremely intense, and houses; I went down roads that no politician had ever there is nothing in my life that has ever made me feel quite been down before. I came to one house with a skidder so alive as going through it.
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