Senator Ethan Strimling, D-Cumberland County, lives
in Portland with his wife Mary Beeaker. Mary grew up
in Livermore Falls and is an RN at Maine Medical Center.
In 1992 Ethan graduated with highest honors from
the University of Maine with a B.A. in History, and
in
1994 earned his Masters in Education from Harvard
University. He also attended the Juilliard School as
a theater
student from 1985 to 1987.
Ethan first began serving in public office in 2002,
when he was elected to the Maine State Senate. As
Senator, he Chairs the Committee on Labor, serves
on the Committee
on Taxation, and is Senate Chair of the Task Force
to Study Maine’s Homeland Security.
In his first two terms he sponsored a number of bills
that have become law including:
- LD
2116, requiring victims of domestic
violence to be notified if their abuser tries to
purchase a
gun
(122nd);
- LD
1379, a tax incentive for the creation of alternative
energy wind projects (122nd);
- LD
1375, giving municipalities the authority to
purchase energy in bulk (122nd);
- LD
1758, requiring the state to divest from Sudan (122nd);
- LD
891, requiring police to record interrogations of
suspects (121st);
- LD
1376, providing juvenile inmates with a personal
advocate (122nd);
- LD
1381, increasing the amount of notice a landlord
must give to raise the rent (121st);
-
LD’s 2036 and 2044 overhauling our Homeland
Security system in order to better protect Maine
families from
a natural or human made disaster
(122nd).
As Senator he also:
- Sponsored the Resolution which put the
Maine Senate on record as the first statewide legislative
body in
the United States to oppose the war in Iraq;
[Click here to
read the resolution]
- Got the Department of Health and Human
Resources to create a Division of Minority Health;
-
Initiated the effort which resulted in banning ATM’s
from the gambling floor of Maine Racinos.
Ethan is also the chief executive of Portland
West,
a corporation that works with at risk kids and low-income
families. They specialize
in helping juveniles achieve their GED, in providing
affordable housing for working families, in teaching
new immigrants and their children how to read and write,
and in bridging the digital divide for those without
access to home computers.
Senator Strimling is also Board President of A
Rising Tide, a non-partisan
civic leadership training institute for Maine young people that he founded in
2004. He also serves on the Board
of the the Winter Harbor Theater Company, and
was a Director of Maine Won’t Discriminate. 
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