On June 13, Betsy Sweet declared herself a candidate in the Democratic primary to challenge Susan Collins for US Senate. She has been endorsed by Justice Democrats and Democracy for America. The following interview took place on July 18, 2019 over the phone. The transcript has been edited sparingly for clarity and brevity. (I have reached out to Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon for an interview; if she agrees to answer questions I will publish those here as well.)
On what Sweet would focus on in the Senate in 2021:
The [three] things that people ask me the most about, and I'm most concerned about, is obviously, [first] healthcare...I think we have to push for Medicare for All, we have to have a universal system of health care to make sure that people not only have access to health care, but that they...won't go bankrupt if they actually use it, which is the situation I think we're in now. So I think that's number one...
I think number two is dealing with our environment. You know...if we don't do something about climate change here in Maine, our fishing industry, our lobstering industry is going to be gone, our agricultural and timber industry can be gone. Our ability to attract tourists...
And then the third thing is...saving our democracy quite honestly...I mean the reason we don't have any real action on healthcare, the reason we don't have action on doing something dramatic in our environment, which is desperately needed, is because of the influence of big special interests, corporate interests, that line the pockets of politicians. And I think you have to talk about that...and we have to create a clean elections system for federal races...I do think our democracy is in peril. And...you have to have people who are truth tellers. You have to have people who say this is what's happening, and to connect the dots for us about what is happening, and what is not happening.
On the perception that Sen. Susan Collins brings the bacon home for Maine:
Voting for Brett Kavanaugh is not delivering for the people of Maine. Voting for a tax cut that goes to the richest corporations and the richest people is not delivering for Maine...Not talking about the federal regulations that are going into effect right now on the whole right whale situation...They're talking about...putting rules into effect that will essentially kill the lobster industry in Maine. Susan Collins hasn't said a word about it.
The tariffs that are affecting our industry, in terms of trade with China...the exports have gone down tremendously. She's not out there speaking about that...
It's something that every Congress person does, to make sure that...[they] get, you know, whatever federal investment they can in their state, and that's a good thing. But...I think there's some really fundamental things--not delivering on health care? That's not bringing home the bacon.
On whether she's open to a wealth tax:
Yes...I have watched on the federal level, as well as on the state level, the amount of money being paid by the richest people in this country, and the richest corporations in this country, in terms of their taxes, go down over and over again. So how is it possible that we have Amazon which makes billions of dollars paying zero dollars in federal taxes?
...The top 10 people in this country own as much wealth as the bottom 50%. That's just wrong. That's not just economically wrong. That's morally wrong. And if we look at...the capitalist model...which, you know, it's fine. But in that model, back in the day, when companies made money, and they made profits, they invested it in their workers and they invested it in new technologies and new systems and new products. And...there was some balance and some economic engine there.
But now that money goes into the pockets of CEOs and shareholders and to...foreign bank accounts...Something is very broken....It doesn't work. And so part of that is our tax code. And Susan Collins--her stand on the Trump tax policy did nothing to help Mainers. Absolutely nothing. And the provisions to undo the Affordable Care Act that were included in it that made it even worse.
On statehood for Washington DC and Puerto Rico:
If they want statehood they should get it...And I think that the failure...to allow that is shown in the efforts that we have made--or the lack of efforts that we have made--in helping Puerto Rico recover from the devastating hurricanes and weather events.
On the "breakdown of democracy" and how to confront it:
...Allow people to better access elections. So whether that is...making federal Election Day a holiday or moving into a Saturday...
And I think we have to pay attention to our Constitution...With the President...we have breaches of the Constitution--we have to talk about it, we have to say patriotism is not about being patriotic to a president, it is about being patriotic to our democracy. And I couldn't be more of a patriot in that way...I'm hoping that [Congress is] going to begin to take seriously the idea of impeachment proceedings, to look at constitutional breaches. And you know...impeachment proceedings is not impeachment. [But] we have to take a look. I mean Mueller said, "Hey, please. I was limited in what I could do. Please go look at this." So I think we have to be forging ahead in that way.
On being referred to in the media as a "lobbyist" with all the associations that conjures up:
The reason we're called "lobbyists" is because there's not a check-off on the ethics form for "advocates." So I have been an advocate for only nonprofit social service organizations and environmental organizations for 37 years in Maine. I started with the Maine Women's Lobby and the Maine Commission for Women...And the reason I started my business, the reason I became a quote-unquote "lobbyist"...was because when I was at the Commission for Women, I saw that in the halls of the legislature, there were a lot of lobbyists, but nobody who represented people whose voices needed to be at the table. Because organizations that were providing services for the people, whether it be low income folks or people with mental illness or people with disabilities, or people with cancer... they can't afford to have someone there full time. So I said, gee, if everyone gave a little bit...then maybe we can have someone here full time to pay attention and to have a voice at the table.
On her intuitive healing and coaching practice that garnered attention during her gubernatorial bid and again more recently in the context of her endorsement by Justice Democrats:
Sweet Spirit is my counseling and coaching practice...I have a master's degree in spiritual psychology and it's a professional therapeutic practice. My clients come from referrals from physicians and from psychologists and psychiatrists. And basically, what I've done is to amass as many tools as I can, to help people come back into their alignment...And so people who are interested, people who come to me, are people who are looking for help...They usually are stuck in some way, either in their professional life, or their personal life or they're hurting...
If you look at the economy of alternative health practices, it's huge. Because Western medicine and pharmaceuticals aren't the only thing that helps people. And people are much more looking at energy work and...massage and acupuncture and, you know, coaching and ways...that augment--not replace--but that augment medical practice, traditional Western medicine. So that's what I do. And it's very professional. And it's not, you know, I think people--Republicans--are trying to make it sound like it belongs in a circus. And that is not what I do....
People [that] don't believe in the work, the kind of alternative work that I'm doing, that's great. They don't come...But it's not...wacky, it's not unprofessional, it's not [a] circus tent...It's helping people with anxiety, with PTSD, with extraordinary grief, with depression. I have clients, ranging in age from five years old to 85 years old...
It's such a fun thing for people to make fun of. But you know, every religion... when people pray to the archangels or, you know, my neighbor...who's Catholic will say, "I'm going to pray to St. Anthony...and see if I can find my keys." Or someone will say, "Oh, my gosh, I just knew my mother was with me today," you know, those kind of things...I'm not a psychic, I don't say that you're going to see someone on Thursday at the corner...I help people connect to their own feelings...if it can help them get unstuck from either grief or depression or childhood trauma.
On whether she would hold town halls regularly:
Yes...I have spent the last four decades as an advocate for people in Maine. So I have represented people whose voices are traditionally not heard...because they don't have their own advocate...When I ran for governor in 2018, we...ran as a clean elections candidate, so we didn't spend time on the phone raising money, we spent our time talking to people...
I think how we run is how we will govern. And the way I run is kitchen table to kitchen table, back of boat to back of boat, back of pick-up truck to back of pick-up truck. That's how I spend my time....We don't do big, you know, political consultants in Washington...We operate talking to Maine, listening to what the problems are, and then bringing people together based on shared values and coming up with solutions...And, you know, the Maine people are wicked smart, and so they have lots of ideas about how we fix things, and how we fix big problems as well as very local problems, and I just think we need to listen.
