Large amount raised in a short window, campaign team assembles
OXFORD, ME – Job creating businessman and previous Maine Senate President Rick Bennett is announcing his fundraising totals in the first quarter for his campaign for the United States Senate.
Mr. Bennett will report to the Secretary of the U.S. Senate that he raised just under $108,000 in less than one month and ended the month with nearly $105,000 cash-on-hand. Mr. Bennett began his campaign after the first of March and the report runs through March thirty-first. Since that time thousands of additional dollars have come in.
“Maine people are concerned about jobs, our economy, gas prices and out-of-control federal spending. As the only candidate running for the Senate who turned a start-up Maine business into an internationally recognized firm creating jobs, I am ready to go to work improving our economy. I look forward to discussing my proven pro-small business and anti-debt record from the Maine Legislature in this campaign. Washington could use some Maine common sense and that begins with supporting community small businesses and having the nation live within our means,” Mr. Bennett said.
Mr. Bennett also today announced some of the people who have taken an active role in supporting his campaign.
Former Maine House Republican Leader Josh Tardy of Newport, credited with helping win a Republican House majority in 2010, has joined his campaign as Treasurer; Chris Jackson, originally from Aroostook County, who managed a statewide Republican gubernatorial campaign and worked with the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, is entering the role of Campaign Manager; Brent Littlefield, originally from Lincoln and Augusta, known for multiple campaign efforts in Maine including the successful LePage campaign for Governor, is serving as the General Consultant; and Ann Robinson, originally from Lewiston, who chaired the Maine Republican State Convention in 2008 and has served as legal counsel to the Maine Republican Party and several Republican presidential campaign Maine efforts, is serving as Bennett Campaign Counsel.
Rick Bennett was elected Maine State Senate President in a historic power-sharing agreement with Democrats brought on by his successful management of the Maine Republican Senate caucus at a time when other Republicans were not successful at the ballot box. Prior to the Senate Presidency he served in leadership and as the sole Republican Senator on the Appropriations Committee.
He is also a former Member of the Maine House, and he held several volunteer positions in the Maine Republican Party including Secretary and Vice Chairman, and was elevated by the entire Maine Republican State Convention to the post of Republican National Committeeman representing Maine. Mr. Bennett twice served as Chairman of the Maine Republican State Convention. At just the age of thirty, Mr. Bennett ran for and successfully won the Republican primary for Congress in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District finishing just shy of a win in 1994.
Mr. Bennett not only has a consistent pro-small business voting record from his time in the Maine House and Senate, he also has consistently supported 2nd Amendment Rights. Mr. Bennett first began raising alarms bells about the rising national debt back in the early 1990s and has consistently been a critic of wasteful government spending and high debt.
Currently he is 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 money-losing start-up to a profitable enterprise, employing more than 40 people. The company’s work is unique – providing information to retiree pension funds and investors, helping point out when corporate CEOs are rewarded with high pay and benefits even as their companies lose money – a practice Rick stringently opposes.
Rick’s work has been cited in The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, USA Today, Fortune, and Barron’s. In addition to GMI Ratings, Rick has served on the board of a Maine-based telecom company that now employs more than fifty people in Biddeford.
Rick received his B.A. with honors from Harvard University in 1986 and his M.B.A. from the University of Southern Maine in 2000. At home, he farms Christmas trees and enjoys long-distance running, having completed eight marathons and ultra-marathons. He lives in Oxford, Maine, with his wife Karen and their two children – along with one dog, two cats and two horses.
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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.
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OXFORD – Richard A. Bennett, the former Maine Senate president, announced today he has initiated an
Richard A. Bennett
effort to gather the 2,000 Republican signatures necessary to qualify him as candidate for the United State Senate. The deadline to turn in the signatures is March 15.
Mr. Bennett, currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of GMI Ratings, a global independent research firm focusing on corporate governance, was a four-term member of the Maine Senate and a two-term member of the Maine House of Representatives.
“I’m excited for the chance to get into this effort and to qualify as an official candidate for U.S. Senate,” Bennett said. “We are at a critical point in our state’s and our nation’s history. People are hurting. They want jobs. They want hope. They want a future for their kids. This is not time for business as usual or politics as usual.”
Mr. Bennett served as Maine Senate president during a unique time in Maine’s history. During that period, there was an even split of Republican and Democratic senators, and the parties worked out a unanimous power-sharing agreement with Mr. Bennett as Senate President for one year.
“My years in public service, as a private sector CEO, and as a father have taught me a great deal about leadership,” said Mr. Bennett. “I have spent my career fighting for greater accountability both in government and in corporate America, and I would be honored and privileged to continue this fight on behalf of Maine people in the U.S. Senate.”
Mr. Bennett was the 1994 Republican nominee for U.S. Congress in Maine’s 2nd district. He received his B.A. with honors from Harvard University in 1986 and his M.B.A. from the University of Southern Maine in 2000. He lives in Oxford with his wife Karen and teenage children Abby and Nathaniel.
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