ALFRED, Maine — A powerful public office held across the state is facing a crisis of competition this election season. Of the 37 county commissioner seats up for grabs this November, only 15 are contested races.
As the top elected body in each of Maine’s sixteen counties, county commissioners have broad powers, passing multi-million-dollar budgets, overseeing management of jails and emergency management agencies, and deciding how to use federal funds, among other responsibilities.
“Most people don’t know what the county does for the citizens,” Richard Dutremble, the chair of the York County Commissioners and the president of the Maine County Commissioners Association, said Thursday.
Dutremble is serving his 18th year on the commission. He says he was only challenged for his seat twice. He credits his “conservative moderate” ideology for this fact.
“I think a lot of people say, ‘Why run against someone that is for everybody?'” Dutremble said.
But with so many unopposed county commissioners up for re-election, including two seats in Androscoggin county that haven't attracted any candidates on the ballot, other factors may be at play.
"I think that it also shows a level of complacency out there, when it comes to folks that want to run for these positions," York County manager Greg Zinser said.
Some advocates see finances as the key hurdle to creating a larger pool of candidates vying for these powerful roles.
“Its hard for people to choose to run for those offices. You have to be wealthy or well connected,” Anna Kellar, the executive director of Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, said.
Unlike in races for governor or state legislature, candidates for county commissioner cannot take public funding from the Maine Clean Election Act, which is currently footing the bill for more than 50% of the campaigns for the Maine Legislature this year.
Kellar plans to push for a bill in the next legislative session to extend MCEA to county offices, arguing that the program will both encourage more people to run for commissioner and boost public awareness in the contests.
“Right now, those offices and those campaigns get very little attention from the voters,” Kellar added.
Dutremble, for his part, doesn’t see money as a prohibitive barrier to becoming a county commissioner, estimating that he’s spent around $2,000 on campaigns in the last 18 years.
For now, the role of county commissioner remains high impact and low profile.