Why are you qualified to be a Senator? — Maine Democratic U.S. Senate Debate

[0:00] let's start with how well you are known or not known to the voters i think it's fair to say [0:06] that there are varying degrees of recognition you have but for certainly two of you candidates [0:11] 99 of people in maine had never heard of you heard of you 48 hours ago maybe six or seven minutes [0:17] ago so let me start with you lizzie dickerson what qualifications do you have to serve in [0:21] what is not an entry level what is an entry level job what is an extremely important job in the [0:27] united states well i actually have a master's of business administration degree i am a finance [0:32] person as well there is a lot of education i have on board in this department i'm pretty good at [0:38] reading budgets um i'm actually a town manager i have been a town manager and i can say that i've [0:44] lowered people's taxes while also raising salaries and benefits so there's a few there's one thing but [0:51] no it is it's true i mean but i think the reason i'm doing this is because people have become [0:56] disenfranchised they feel like everyday people can't have access to their own government the [1:01] qualification for running for office doesn't really involve pretty fancy things it involves [1:07] being a citizen as you know you've probably read the constitution and the laws people feel like they [1:13] just can't do that because there's so much money in government they can't run they'd never stand a [1:17] prayer of a chance and so that's why i've done it dan cleveland yeah well i am not a career politician [1:24] i've spent the last 20 years starting a business out of my garage raising twins i've grown my business [1:33] from me and my brother to now over 100 employees we provide a living wage we cover 100 of their [1:41] health insurance premiums we provide for their retirement and we've given millions of dollars back [1:46] into our community to help preserve this wonderful state that we live in and in addition to that i've [1:51] served on numerous non-profit boards i'm on the board of the university of southern maine my alma [1:56] mater and i've also served as the leader of the maine brewers guild helping small businesses grow [2:02] small businesses here in maine and revolutionize the beer industry in this state and i went on to serve [2:06] as the chair of our national brewers association representing the interests of nine over 9 000 small [2:12] businesses across this country and taking making sure that small businesses had a seat at the table [2:17] against the large multinational brewers so people know dan kleban in maine and so i i think people [2:24] are sick and tired of career politicians and i'd look to go down to dc and bring that kind of unique [2:28] experience which is sorely lacking actually what qualifications do you have to serve in the u.s senate [2:35] oh i ran for office several times didn't win but i did run and then um i'm a songwriter and then i write [2:43] my own books and then i suppose my transparency i wouldn't lie to the people and i wouldn't deceive [2:51] the people like we're being deceived right now like we get lied smoke smoke and mirrors like with [2:58] what's going on with ice pretend like pretending like these victims did something wrong like that's [3:03] unacceptable um and i suppose the biggest thing is like i'm just an angry citizen now and if i got [3:11] elected i'd be an angry senator and i think that would probably be the their worst nightmare david costello [3:17] uh like dan i haven't held elective office but i have as i mentioned earlier i've held senior level [3:24] positions for over 25 27 years actually i was a top aide to main secretary of state i was a top [3:31] aide to the mayor of baltimore i was a top aide to the mayor of baltimore when he became governor [3:35] i also served as a country program manager for usaid and a country team leader for usaid oti in [3:43] countries like cambodia kosovo bosnia haiti uh i also uh helped to run the state's department of [3:50] the environment in maryland so i've got over 27 years of senior level hands-on government experience [3:57] i believe i have the most experience of any of the candidates in this race for the united states [4:01] senate i i've also managed instead of just talking about or legislating about public policy i've actually [4:08] managed complex multi-million dollar operations and programs not only in the united states but as i've [4:13] said abroad so i think that kind of perspective as well as having grown up in a working class family [4:19] with a single mother uh widowed at 28. i think that kind of lived experience is one that's that's [4:25] missing in congress and i think i could bring that kind of governing experience as well as lived experience [4:31] and that's why i believe i've got the most experience of the candidates and would provide [4:36] the greatest contrast with senator collins who has very little hands-on government experience [4:42] wait wait yeah that statement needs to be called on sure you just said senator collins has very [4:48] little hands-on experience i'm talking about the kind of hands-on get your hands dirty managing [4:54] programs and operations governmental programs as you know a legislator will talk a lot about programs [4:59] will talk a lot about legislation but they've never managed never fully managed the kind of operations [5:04] and programs that i believe i have and that's the kind of contrast i'm talking about okay