Elected leaders in Maine are praising former President Jimmy Carter for his decades-long commitment to humanitarian causes, election integrity and global peacemaking.
Tributes to the 39th president poured in on Sunday following the news that Carter had died in his home in Plains, Georgia at age 100. Maine political leaders remembered Carter for his work to address poverty and to promote peace and fair elections around the globe.
Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, said Carter "led a remarkable life centered around service to others."
"As a peanut farmer, a U.S. Navy Lieutenant, governor of Georgia, president of the United States, respected statesman and humanitarian, and a humble Sunday School teacher, President Carter spent his life working to make our world a better place," Mills said in a statement. "He was the moral conscience of a nation whose words and deeds demonstrated that the human capacity for kindness and goodness is limitless. America has lost a true model of servant leadership.”
Sen. Angus King, an independent and former two-term governor, said Carter put the country over partisan politics and lived a life that "personified our true American values."
"He was compassionate, unapologetic in his convictions, and forward-thinking — calling out racial discrimination as governor of Georgia, negotiating the Camp David Accords, and dedicating his post-presidential career to community service," King said in a statement. "Jimmy Carter’s extraordinary life story epitomized the American Dream and proved that any one of us can go from humble beginnings to President of the United States and human rights champion for the world. Now that’s a legacy to be proud of.”
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, D-District 1, also described the late president as forward-thinking and a man of integrity.
“Whether he was putting solar panels on the White House before many understood their full potential or giving up his humble peanut farm to prevent even a hint of impropriety as president, Jimmy Carter demonstrated how the nation’s top executive can lead by example," Pingree said in a statement. “Even after leaving office, President Carter remained dedicated to the greater good — safeguarding free and fair elections around the world and with his bare hands building affordable housing alongside Habitat for Humanity for over 30 years."
Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, said Carter "served our country with distinction and integrity" while in the Navy, the Georgia governor's office and the White House as well as since then.
“President Carter always remained grounded in his ideals, true to his roots, and guided by his deep faith," Collins said in a statement. "After returning to his hometown of Plains, Georgia, President Carter continued to give back in many ways, from alleviating poverty, partnering with Habitat for Humanity, and working to improve the quality of life in more than 80 countries through the Carter Center. He also taught Sunday school in his community. As a peacemaker and a humanitarian, he left behind a powerful and inspiring legacy."
Congressman Jared Golden, D-District 2, added in a statement that Carter "steered our nation through rough waters at home and abroad during his time in the Oval Office" and that "he admirably continued to dedicate himself to others" after leaving the White House in 1980.
One of the most lasting but still-controversial legacies of the Carter White House in Maine was his administration's work with Maine officials and leaders of the Wabanaki tribes to negotiate the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980. The act ended years of land claims filed by the tribes against the state and provided tens of millions of dollars to the Penobscot Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe and the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians to acquire land.
But the act also fundamentally changed the relationship between Maine state government and Wabanaki Nations in ways that tribal leaders say has harmed their communities. In particular, the act made it so that federal laws passed since 1980 that benefit other federally recognized tribes do not automatically apply to the Wabanaki tribes. Frustration and tensions over differing interpretations of the 1980 settlement agreement have led to the ongoing tribal sovereignty push to change the law.
Carter traveled to Maine multiple times during his 1976 campaign for president and during his four years in the Oval Office.
One such visit, in February 1978, came just 10 days after the blizzard of 1978 that brought damaging flooding and storm surges to coastal Maine. During a roughly 90-minute "town hall" in Bangor attended by an estimated 2,500 people, Carter broached an energy topic that is still highly relevant today — Maine's heavy reliance on heating oil.
Carter said that Maine was "more vulnerable to winter than any other section of the country" because the state lacked access to cheap supplies of natural gas and oil.
"It costs you more to heat your homes and your factories here than it does anywhere else in the 48 states in this in this country," Carter said. "Your jobs are in danger of leaving Maine, some of them, because to provide a certain amount of heat, the energy cost you about 45% more than their average place in our country. No part of a nation has suffered more from a lack of a comprehensive national energy plan than has New England. I've tried my best to close that gap, to correct the unfairness in energy distribution and energy prices."
Maine is still more heavily dependent on heating oil than any other state in the country, although the share of Maine homes primarily heated with oil has declined from more than 70% in 2010 to roughly 53% last year, according to federal data.
The energy crisis of the late-1970s — including gas shortages in 1979 — were factors in Americans choosing Republican Ronald Reagan over Carter during the 1980 election. But Carter is also credited with helping usher in new environmental policies and consciousness.
In one example, he installed solar panels on the roof of the White House in 1979 for the first time as a way to reduce reliance on Middle Eastern oil during the energy crisis. Reagan subsequently removed the solar panels and they eventually ended up in Maine, helping to heat water in the Unity College dining hall.
But Carter's post-presidency is arguably best known for his global work on election integrity, public health and promoting peace through The Carter Center, the nonprofit founded by he and his late wife, Rosalynn, in partnership with Emory University. He was also involved for decades with Habitat for Humanity, which helps build affordable housing for low-income families.
