Washington is broken.  We have too many politicians sitting in the chairs of the U.S. Senate, not statesmen and stateswomen. We have a Senate with people who are more worried about their political futures than the future of our children and grandchildren. We have a Senate in which the American people have lost faith.

We must return to the spirit and promise on which our country was founded: freedom, personal responsibility, fiscal prudence and elected officials who are there to serve the public, not just worry about their own futures.

We need people in the Senate who do what they say, and say what they mean. It is time for a change in the way our government operates. We need to end the gridlock, find common ground, and restore common sense.

That is why I am running for the United States Senate.

I will fight for Maine’s interests with the same vigor as our previous senators going back to the founding of our great state. I’m a Maine native and my family has been here for generations. I love our state and its unique place in the world. I am a husband and father who chose to raise my children in Maine.

I am the only candidate running for the Senate who has a proven record of fighting government waste and of arguing against government debt over the course of my lifetime. I haven’t come to these debates late in life: I have fought against government debt for decades.

I am the only candidate who has proven track record of bi-partisan leadership in an elected body, rising to Senate President because I proved I could move the debate and represent our common principles. I was elected and re-elected repeatedly because I proved that I would stand by my word.

I am the only candidate who has spent the better part of the last decade creating Maine jobs and fighting for the investments of workers against some corporate management who has ignored their shareholders in the rush for a quick dollar. I have built a Maine based business from the ground up, employing over 40 people in state, and growing our economy – a business now known around the world.

It is time for common sense in the U.S. Senate.

It is time to return to the principles of fiscally conservative leadership to ensure our children’s futures are liberated and our taxpayer dollars are protected, as our founding fathers intended.

It is time to ensure freedom is not a catch phrase but a guiding principle on which decisions are made in Washington.

That is my commitment as your next U.S. Senator.

Richard A. Bennett