Pledges to be Staunch Advocate for Fiscal Discipline, Balanced Budgets, and Borrowing Restraint
(Augusta, Maine) – Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rick Bennett today turned in more than 2,000 primary nomination petition signatures to the Secretary of State’s office, ensuring his placement on the June Republican Primary Ballot.
“These signatures represent a tremendous effort on the part of the Bennett for Senate campaign, and I am humbled by the efforts of our volunteers across Maine” Bennett said. “Our large grassroots team collected these signatures in a very short amount of time, ensuring that Republicans will have an opportunity in June to elect a reformer with both public and private sector experience and someone who has fought hard to hold the line on government spending.”
Rick Bennett is currently CEO of GMI Ratings, a world-renowned research firm headquartered in Portland, Maine, with offices in New York, San Diego and London. Under Rick’s leadership since 2006, GMI Ratings has grown from a start-up to a profitable enterprise employing fifty people in Maine alone. GMI Ratings is known around the world for promoting long-term decision-making for corporations, and for measuring those risks that can lead to large losses for strapped pension funds and other institutional investors. GMI Ratings is also known for pointing out when corporate CEOs are being rewarded with high pay and benefits even as companies lose money – a practice they advocate against.
For the last decade, Bennett has also served on the board of directors of GWI, the 60-plus-person telecom company and internet service provider based in Biddeford, Maine, where he has helped that business adapt and grow in a volatile, fast-moving market. Prior to GMI and his work assisting the telecom company, Bennett worked with a number of job creating Maine businesses including a manufacturing company.
In addition to his private sector experience, Bennett has also developed a solid track record in the public service arena. He served two terms in the Maine House of Representatives and three terms in the Maine Senate. As a Senator he was chosen by his fellow Republican Senators to serve on their leadership team and led a successful election effort that saw Republicans capture Senate seats throughout Maine. As a result, Bennett became Maine Senate President in an historic power-sharing agreement.
Throughout his time in the Maine Senate and in the House, Bennett was a reformer and staunch advocate for fiscal discipline, balanced budgets, and borrowing restraint. He has also always fought for accountability just as he is now doing in corporate boardrooms. In short, while others are new to the message of fighting to balance the federal budget and stave off high debt – Rick Bennett has spent his life fighting for those principles.
Rick Bennett and his wife, Karen, reside in Oxford and have two children.
###
