Along the Rocky Coast of Maine, changes are happening (S5E01)

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree is a leading climate change activist in the House of Representatives. With over 3,000 miles of waterfront, Maine must protect its coastline, hear how this congresswoman is protecting the environment and lobsters for all of us.

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Transcription

David Martin: This is the good government show.

Chellie Pingree: I’m like a good government at my core. I believe in the fundamental ability of, you know, good people to sit down with the right information and make the kind of decisions you want to see made for the good of everyone else. Everybody wants their assistance from government when they see the problem in their backyard. We’re a commonsense state.

You know, people are much more drawn to the practical solution to things than the ideological solution to things. The good news is, you know, I don’t want people to despair. There are plenty of people who want to work together and want to do the right thing. But we’re in a terrible climate right now. We got to get ourselves out of it.

This is your government. You get the government that you participate in. And I think the more you sit on the sidelines or, you know, just watch it on TV and yell at the monitor, the worse it is. So just participate, be engaged, let us know what you think. It makes a huge difference.

David Martin: Here’s something I didn’t know. Maine has one of the largest areas of shoreline in the U.S., just a little more than California. That includes bays, inlets, beaches, and islands. Maine’s waterfront is part of the state’s economic engine, and it’s what makes this New England state so distinctive. Welcome to the Good Government show. I’m your host, Dave Martin. On this episode, I’m talking with Congresswoman Chellie Pingree from Maine’s first congressional District.

This is a state, southeastern area, including much of the state’s southern coastline. She serves Maine in the House of Representatives for nine terms. That’s 16 years. She got into public service on her local school board and eventually won a congressional seat. She’s the ranking member of the House’s Interior and Environment Committee, and she was recently named one of USA Today’s Women of the year.

The owner of a small farm herself. She’s passionate about helping farmers. Maine is known for its rocky coastline, and Congresswoman Pingree has worked to help waterfront towns adjust to climate change. She currently has a bill before the House for the Working Waterfront Bill, and she explains that. We recorded this interview one week after the president addressed Congress, and she shared her thoughts on his speech and the current state of our government.

Of course, we talked about lobster. I mean, it’s Maine. Oh, when we talk blueberry pie. But this is a good government show. And she gave me some reasons to be optimistic. Coming up, my conversation with Maine’s Congresswoman Chellie Pingree.

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Want to see how I can help you power a service for government? Visit polymorphic.com. That’s pretty li moi Icom. Welcome to the Good Government show. I’m very excited to have with me Congresswoman Chellie Pingree. She’s from Maine’s first district. You are our first congresswoman from Maine. So, thank you for joining us. Good to have you on the show.

Chellie Pingree: Honored to be with you and glad to be your first Mainers so far. So there you go.

David Martin: So far, I, as my grandfather, I came over from Scotland, lived in Maine. So I’ve been to Maine many, many times. Bath, Maine was. Was that where they’re from?

Chellie Pingree: Well, we’re very proud of our scotch and Scotch Irish history in Maine.

David Martin: So they went to work in the, the, the best shipyards to pass ironworks. Which is, which is where you represent. You represent, pretty much about half of Maine, mostly southeast along the coast. Correct.

Chellie Pingree: That is true. Yep.

David Martin: All right. And you live on an island?

Chellie Pingree: I do, I think I might be the only member of Congress besides the Hawaiians who live on an island. And I take a ferry that lasts about one hour to get home. So, it’s an adventure. Some route. When I go home.

David Martin: It’s an hour long ferry. Okay. I didn’t know that. Yeah. How is Island living in Maine?

Chellie Pingree: Well, it’s all I’ve known for more than 50 years, and, I don’t think you could have a better choice in life. It’s a very small community, very tightly knit. And, we’re a little bit like siblings. Sometimes when we get into a big fight in town, it takes a while to get over it. But on the other hand, everybody’s there to help everybody at any moment in time.

David Martin: Even in the winter when it’s cold. Is it ever impassable in the wintertime?

Chellie Pingree: Yes. There are many times when the ferry doesn’t run. We watch the weather very closely. We care deeply about NOAA for that reason. And, we just had our annual town meeting last Saturday, first Saturday in March or second Saturday, I forget anyway. That’s when we make all of our decisions. And it’s the, most pure form of government is where I learned everything I need to know about being in politics.

David Martin: Everything I need to know. I learned at a small town in Maine. All right, well, I wanted to. Lots to talk about, with you. But I want to start with the elephant in the room. You were one of the ladies in pink at the president’s recent joint session of Congress. And you walked out. Why did you walk out?

Chellie Pingree: Well, honestly, it was just kind of painful and boring. To tell you the truth, I’ve heard that speech many times. I didn’t think there were many truths coming out of the president’s mouth. And while I desperately want to work across the aisle and find those places where we can work together, I. I just didn’t think it was useful.

You know, use of my time to be there. Unfortunately, this this presidential term has started off very badly. We’re all really reeling from the the cuts, the firings, the arbitrary, unwillingness to deal with Congress at any level. And, it wasn’t a great night.

David Martin: So you are a Congress person? You are actually the ranking member of the House, Interior and Environment Committee. Give us some hope. Tell me a recent feel optimistic right now, with you in Congress.

Chellie Pingree: Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, I work with the wonderful Republicans, so Committee seven chair and a ranking member. So Mike Simpson from Idaho is the chair of the committee because the Republicans are in control and I’m the ranking member. There have been times when I’ve been the chair and a Republican has been the ranking member. But, you know, I work with somebody on the other side of the aisle on deciphering what should be in the budget on dealing with issues related to the Department of Interior, Indian Health, the EPA, who we generally agree on, on most fundamental issues.

So to me, that is a real sign of hope. Last week we had, three days of tribal witnesses. Those were tribal chiefs, you know, chair people of tribal communities. And I think Mike and I were on the same page on almost every issue. But when it comes down to doing these budgets and working with this administration and dealing with Doge and Elon Musk, we got a disaster on our hands.

And it’s very frustrating to work with. So the good news is, you know, I don’t want people to despair. There are plenty of people who want to work together and want to do the right thing, but we’re in a terrible climate right now. We got to get ourselves out of it.

David Martin: Behind the scenes. Do you feel like, folks like yourself, people in Congress, representatives from across the nation are, you know, are working together?

Chellie Pingree: I mean, we’re trying our best. But as everyone is noticing, I mean, this president doesn’t seem to value the role of Congress. He’s got Republican majorities in the House, in the Senate. Yet he’s chosen to do this outside process that we consider illegal and unconstitutional. And it’s interfering with his cabinet secretaries. Doing their job is interfering with us doing our job.

I am certainly working closely with the Republicans on anything I can. We’re trying to reverse many of the things that he’s doing every single week. Our own delegation in Maine has had to work to reverse, you know, funding cuts and staffing cuts. But, it’s coming at us like a firehose. And you can’t cover in this way.

David Martin: Well, this is the good government show. Is there good government coming out of Washington?

Chellie Pingree: No, there’s a very bad government going on right now. And and believe me, you know, I’ve been at this for a long time. I was a state legislator. I was a local official. So I’m like, good government at my core. I believe in the fundamental ability of, you know, good people to sit down with the right information and make the kind of decisions you, you want to see made for the good of everyone else.

But right now, it’s a very twisted and distorted system. There may be a few moments of happiness and, you know, glee coming out of it. Don’t you? It is a tortured process, and I don’t think it’s serving Republicans well. Democrats. Well, it’s not good for the long term separation of powers and making sure that Congress holds on to its constitutional duties.

I do believe these moments in time become giant civic lessons for America. And if there is a I’m not calling it a silver lining, but any kind of lining, it is that my constituents know more about the process than they ever did before, you know, and they call me up. They’re talking about some of my new details of what happened, you know, in a committee at the Supreme Court everywhere else.

So I do think it’s when Americans sit up and pay attention, when they’re angry or worried, about the future. So I guess you could say that’s a good thing going on. And the more we all know and the more we participate, the likely better. Also to be at the end of it. But it’s a it’s a scary time, I think, when the fabric of things is falling apart.

David Martin: One of the things that you have been able to do, over recently and over the last many years, nine terms in Congress is you’ve been able to, to get some a lot of money, towards environmental challenges, coastal resiliency. You had two major storms, a year ago in, in Maine, that that had a big impact on your state climate and resiliency is, is a huge issue.

Tell us about the the grants that you were able to get and, and tell me, is this money well spent?

Chellie Pingree: Oh, absolutely. I mean, you know, in Maine we have more coastline than virtually any other state. It’s much longer coast than people think because of our islands and our sort of craggy coast. And last year we were hit by two severe storms in January, you know, 300 year storms, as we call them. Not. That’s something that should ever happen in your lifetime, really, and to happen twice in the same month.

It did a devastating amount of damage to our working waterfront. And by that we mean, you know, the fishing wharfs that our lobster fishermen use that have been in their family for years, or the communities that have a, you know, a port where a ferry lands or where, boaters come in in the summer. So an enormous amount of damage and really, people seeing, you know, unprecedented kind of problems.

Well, that means you got to prepare for the future. You got to fix what already happened. And so while people may be climate change skeptics are unsure of, you know, what they think about government role. Boy, when there were full stone, the first person they call us and say, you know, I need the money to fix it. I need a solution, you know, what are we going to do in the future to make sure this doesn’t happen again?

So when we talk about climate resilience money, it may sound like some big words, but it’s really helping small towns. And I live in one. And that’s to go through like a planning process of like, what can we live with? What can we change? How do we do? We have to move houses back from the water. Do we have to, you know, build a breakwater?

What do we have to do that assistance. And then also the money. This costs millions and millions of dollars to repair these things. And, you know, we are proud of our long history on the coast. We are a tourism and fishing economy. And we’re like a lot of other states, but we’re particularly good example of how hard you can be hit.

So our whole delegation, which includes Republicans, Democrats and independents, has gone to work, getting federal funding because we just don’t have enough money in our small towns or even in our state to do all this work. To bring that back, to say, you know, how do we help? How do we how do we fight against this in the future?

Because I don’t think these weather problems are going away. I don’t think we’ve seen the end of it. And, you know, everybody wants their assistance from government when they see the problem in their backyard.

David Martin: I think I read that there are some 19 specific projects that target, climate resiliency in Maine. Is that correct?

Chellie Pingree: That’s probably right. I’m not sure I have all the details, but that’s definitely. And we have been working on this idea of working waterfronts for quite a while. I’ve had a bill, bipartisan bill with one of my colleagues, from Virginia, about how do you protect and preserve working waterfronts, because before this even happened, you can imagine there’s huge development pressure.

These are beautiful communities. Everybody wants to build their condo or their Marina there. Everybody wants to own that land. And we want to make sure that our fishermen always have a place where they can launch their boats, where they can store their traps, as we call them in lobstering and, where they can, you know, do the important work of the fishing or aquaculture or marine related industry.

So, I’ve been working on this for a long time, but I think last year’s storms brought forth the idea that, you know, we need a much bigger federal infusion of cash.

David Martin: You have a waterfront bill in the house, correct. That’s passing the house.

Chellie Pingree: Working under control. Yeah, we just relaunched it.

David Martin: And what exactly is that? Briefly. What exactly does that bill do?

Chellie Pingree: Many of the same kinds of things. It helps, communities assess, the dangers to their working waterfront. You know, they may just have a little patch we have about, I think, 3000 miles of coastline, 3000 plus and only 20 miles of working waterfront. So it gives you a sense of how little we actually have today. So, you know, what do we need?

Do we need easements to protect that, to make sure it’s never sold to development? Do we need to buy it when it’s on the market? These are grants to assess it and future funding, for that possibility. And it’s really to help our, economic, opportunities along the coast to make sure we preserve those and that we make sure that we preserve the culture and the economy of Maine in other states.

So the working waterfront bills a national bill. So we’re not the only state dealing with this. But we’re certainly a good example.

David Martin: Have you been on a lobster boat, or do you just wait for the lobster to come to your table?

Chellie Pingree: Oh my goodness, no. I lived in the lobster community fishing community since I was a teenager. I even went through a brief period of, of being a stern person, as they call it. That’s the person who helps the lobster fishermen. Unfortunately, lasted not much time, and I hurt my back, so, but it’s a it’s a rite of passage in a community like mine, and, and, you know, young kids grow up, you know, going fishing as soon as they can run an outboard engine themselves.

And it’s a really important part of what we do.

David Martin: Made us out of the center of the of the United States. It is in many ways sort of a remote state. But what can other states learn from Maine? I mean, is it applicable to what’s going on in Maine? Is it applicable to other places in the nation?

Chellie Pingree: Oh, yeah, I mean, I, I mean, I think we’re an excellent example for the nation. And sometimes because we are smaller, we’re not we’re not anywhere near as sort of partizan or divisive as many states around the country were much more sort of purple. But it’s not even purple. It’s more like where our common sense state, you know, people are much more drawn to the practical solution to things, than the ideological solution to things.

We’ve long had congressional seats and gubernatorial seats and legislative seats that go back and forth between Republicans and Democrats and independents. And I don’t think any of us think that we’re, you know, that we’re here to speak for a party. We’re here to speak for the people, that we serve. So I think there’s a lot to be learned from what we do.

Maine is a state that has embraced climate change because we see the impacts of it so deeply and sea level rise in our ocean waters warming, and the change in species that our fishermen are able to catch. You know, we’re we’re on the front lines of many of these things, and we’ve tackled them head on rather than trying to stick our head in the sand and say, you know, it doesn’t exist, or let’s pretend we don’t believe in science.

David Martin: Have you brought representatives and senators from around the nation to Maine, and have they seen what’s going on and taken it back to their states?

Chellie Pingree: Oh, very proudly. Last year I brought, I’m also on the agriculture committee. I’m an organic farmer myself. But, you know, that’s my that’s my real job on the side.

David Martin: What do you what do you what do what do you raise?

Chellie Pingree: Oh, well, I’ve given it a little bit of everything. Over the years. I’ve had dairy cows. I’ve had chickens. The last farm I started, raises vegetables and a few animals. And actually, we we do dinner, in our barn for 100 people twice a week. So it’s really a farm to table operation. Now, we run a small inn.

You know, we’ve learned that, you can make more money at the tables, on the table, on a plate tasting delicious than just selling a one on one to the customer. So we do a little bit of everything. But last year, I brought the, When we were working on the farm bill, I brought, members of the Ed committee, the chair, Republicans and Democrats to Maine.

I brought them to see some of our small farmers. The creative things that we’re doing in agriculture are organic farmers. And I also run to see aquaculture because they didn’t realize that the USDA, is in charge of aquaculture as well. So they got to see oysters, kelp, farm raised scallops. They had a delicious time in Maine, and they really learned a lot.

David Martin: All right. We’re going to talk a little bit more about that later on. But first this sort of ties into it. You have something before Congress, the bipartisan Protect our close from PFAs act. I this is sort of surprising as I understand. And I’m sure you’ll explain this better than I. Right now, if you import clothes with an inorganic waterproofing material, it’s cheaper than if you have, organic materials.

That. Am I.

Chellie Pingree: Close? Basically. I mean, we’re trying to eradicate us from our clothing. Most people have heard of it. Now it’s a forever chemical. It’s not good for your health. It’s not good for the soil. And many of the clothing manufacturers are trying to change over to a less toxic chemical the way our tariff laws work. And we’re all getting an education in tariffs these days.

Yes. We our tariff laws work is you can come in tariff free if you’re using PCOS in your rain gear as a water protection, element or another kind of clothing. But you can’t if you’re using another substance. So, these are often antiquated laws. I feel like now when we’re having a big tariff, discussion is a good time to try to modify this, because basically we were saying to clothing manufacturers, hey, if you’re doing the right thing, we want to support you in that.

And I’ve done a lot of work trying to eliminate PFAs from our water supply. Some of it’s in our soil. It’s been a problem for farmers. It’s a serious quote, forever chemical that we need to be done with.

David Martin: And I’m sure I’ll is with you all the way.

Chellie Pingree: Absolutely. And other clothing manufacturers care deeply about this as well. But we’re very proud of L.L.Bean in our state and and, the good work they do.

David Martin: Yes. And every time I see you, it seems like you have to leave a shirt on at your rallies. And the photos I’ve seen. So obviously you are a customer.

Chellie Pingree: They only have two jackets, and they’re both from.

David Martin: Well, so the other issue that I understand that you’ve been very active in is something called fast fashion. What is fast fashion?

Chellie Pingree: Well, you know, it’s not one of those things that people think, you know, oh, gosh, I want Congress to take this on. But once you start talking to people about it, and certainly if you start talking to young people about it, they’re well aware of what it is. So we started a slow fashion caucus. This was kind of an easy thing to do for Maine because, you know, we’re more of a thrift shop kind of shoppers.

We’re more of a, hey, I still got my grandfather’s plaid shirt that he handed down. And my father, Mike, you know, we’re not like big dressing up people, okay? But this, fast fashion and throwaway clothing is now the fastest growing source of, waste material in a landfill. So it’s costing us money. Is turning into methane gas as it, rots away in your landfill.

You know, people have started to turn to these, fashion companies, like Sheehan and Timmer, who get under our tariff regulations and are able to ship to you after you saw something on the internet. You get it home, you find out it’s it’s poorly made, very likely, doesn’t meet with any environmental standards could have been made by children and 70% of our clothing today is actually made out of a fossil fuel product.

So as a long time farmer, I used to be a sheep farmer. I want to see us using more natural materials, supporting American farmers, domestic textiles, and getting these toxics out of our waste stream, which either end up in a landfill, could end up in your groundwater, could end up as plastic in the ocean. So we support you know, a whole variety of things, to eliminate this.

It’s also part of my subcommittee to look at how the EPA treats recycling and clothing, and fashion has really been left out of understanding our waste stream. Much of it ends up in foreign countries. Or as I said, it costs your municipality because it’s a big part of your own landfill.

David Martin: And I think I saw somewhere in one of the notes that I made from you comments that some of this stuff, or a lot of this stuff actually winds up in landfills before it’s even warned.

Chellie Pingree: Oh yeah, I mean, the number of times people, buy a garment and don’t even, you know, try it on and don’t even wear it. But even more so, these clothing companies that overproduce are constantly making for the next fashion cycle. You know, there’s a big movement now to to rewear to thrift demand. I happen to even have a piece of clothing, that I think is mended myself.

David Martin: So, so if you if because you better be able to see that she is holding up her. It’s an elbow patch, not quite professorial I would say.

Chellie Pingree: It’s not bad though. And you really wouldn’t notice it most of the time. You know, it’s like, why throw away a perfectly good wool jacket when you can wear it for, you know, many years to come?

David Martin: But when I sort of. You’re all set, right. There you go. One of the challenges in this is that it’s so easy to order online or go to a big box store and buy something for very inexpensive. How are you going to get people to buy clothing that’s not cheap? That might be more expensive. Because, you know, if you can buy a $25 pair of jeans, why not?

Instead of paying, you know, $150 for a pair of jeans?

Chellie Pingree: You know, I mean, some of this is an education. And I would say, you know, young people are very aware of it. Many of them are, you know, showing online what they’re re wearing or thrifting, mending. And a lot of it for people is just trying to better understand what happens to that clothing when you buy it.

Who made it. Was it was it made by a child in a foreign country? The other thing is we’re trying to close what’s called the de minimis loophole. So in one of Donald Trump’s first tariff, announcements, he actually had this closed it. It didn’t last. But we’re going to try to go back at it again. So anything that you purchase online for the most part, that has a value of under $800 can be shipped into this country with no tariffs.

So most of that comes from companies like Sheehan and Teemu. I think about a third of the packages coming in, from outside the country today are from them. So you realize the volume that’s coming in today? If we could close that loophole, they wouldn’t have that advantage. And also, they wouldn’t have a competitive advantage over our domestic manufacturers.

So we have done this in a sense, to ourselves. Now, I understand not everybody wants to pay more for their clothing. On the other hand, I think the conversation is well worth having about things that will have, a longer value that you can wear for longer, maybe pay a little more upfront, and it lasts more of your life.

So there’s a lot of value to that. And I think sometimes people just don’t understand what they’re getting into when they see that, oh, very attractive garment online. You get it home, open the package. And it turns out, you know, it doesn’t fit. It’s crappy materials and it ends up in the landfill before you even wear it.

David Martin: Anyway, the other side would argue this is just another example of Democrats putting a stranglehold on commerce, making people pay more for products and and ruining the ability of of the market to set the price and to set the standard.

Chellie Pingree: Well, I would say no. It’s currently Republicans who like the tariffs. When it was president Trump who said, yeah, you might have to pay a little bit more. Yeah, there might be a little bit of pain. So I’m not sure that’s coming from me right now.

David Martin: No, but but you must admit that that’s rude. You know, the the the argument against the Democratic policies is that it inhibits a business and it strangles business, and it doesn’t make it creates more regulations for business. And, you know, I, I.

Chellie Pingree: Know, I hear you, I know exactly what you’re saying. I would say again, you know, I come from a state where we talk about common sense. So it’s common sense to be a slight. I mean, in my state, people are really happy to buy something that’s made locally to buy food from a local farmer. They see it as a point of pride, and many times, you know, in this country we have a big debate and say, let’s buy America and let’s shop locally.

Let’s have local manufacturing. And it doesn’t necessarily have to cost an enormous amount of money, but it shouldn’t be dirt cheap or free. I think that most people, when you explain this to them, understand they don’t want to buy cheaply made goods from China. Most people are angry about the amount of things we get from China. They don’t like to see child labor or crappy materials.

Most people are shocked to realize that 70% of the material that goes into your clothing today is a fossil fuel product. It’s not something that comes from an American farmer, and none of this is regulatory. Literally everything I’ve been talking about or everything that we’re working on putting on legislation, honestly, is helping to inform the consumer, maybe have labels on your clothing that actually show where it came from or what it was made.

And people do not oppose, you know, content labeling, understanding better. You know, it’s like food. People want to know, is it, you know, generally going organically grown or is it grown in America, grown in my state, people want to know all those things. So I don’t think this is a constraint of trade. I think the only people who would say that are these cheap Chinese companies who want to keep importing into our country.

David Martin: Well, that does sound like the government. We’re going to come back and we’re going to get your real philosophy on government that’s coming up. Once you wrap up this episode of The Good Government Show, give a listen to our friends over at Good News for lefties. This daily podcast highlights news stories that show there’s more good news out there.

Other people in government are really trying to do the right thing. That’s good news for lefties. Listen, we’re listening now. All right. That was the easy part. Now here comes the hard part. Here’s the good government show questionnaire nine terms in Congress. Local government before that. What makes government effective define good government.

Chellie Pingree: Working with people of differing views, having all the information that you need, you know, honest, good information. And then you know, doing the hard work of making a tough decision. I, I started out on a local school board, which is nonpartizan. We had to make a lot of decisions over the years about teachers, about property tax, about curriculum.

And I just loved working with people of differing opinions because I knew that in the end, that’s how you would get the best possible opinion and decision.

David Martin: When people are frustrated with government, you know, whether it’s you get a you or you’re you’re a small town, what should they.

Chellie Pingree: Do? Oh, they should speak up. Absolutely. I mean, we take to heart everything everyone calls and tells us or the people stop and tell me on the street that we hear in a meeting with people, this is your government. You get the government that you participate in. And I think the more you sit on the sidelines or, you know, just watch it on TV and yell at the monitor, the worse it is.

So just participate, be engaged, let us know what you think. It makes a huge difference.

David Martin: Don’t you shout at the TV.

Chellie Pingree: Shout at the TV.

David Martin: We are the voice of public service. What drew you to public service? What got you involved?

Chellie Pingree: You know, I was a small farmer in a small town, and, we conduct our business every year at our town meeting. And I started going, to town meeting, listening to people debate. You know, how much we would spend on the roads, how much we would spend on the Recreation Council or, you know, any part of government.

And I just got thinking like, wow, this this is what I want to do. I want to participate in the decisions that get made about my kids school or about the planning process for our town. And, I got my start in local government and, I’ll just never look back. It’s been, you know, my great good fortune to be a participant in this and to and to hear what people have on their minds.

David Martin: Who’s your political hero? Who inspires you?

Chellie Pingree: Honestly? You know, I come from a state of small towns, and every one of those people in a small community with signs up to say, I’ll be on the Board of selectmen, I’ll serve on the school board, I’ll be the tax assessor. You know, those people are amazing heroes, because when you do that in your own community and it might be a city, it might be a community around the country.

You take the heat in the local grocery store, you know, you don’t get on a plane and fly to Washington every week. You take the heat with your kids, you know, friends, parents and and you choose to do that because you believe it’ll make your community better. I mean, the, you know, it’s nobody up at the top. This job gets easier up at the top.

You got more people around you. You got, you know, more cushioning. But when you do that every day in your town. And that’s what makes our country work, that that’s that’s what we’re all about.

David Martin: So what do you stop into the local feed store? They say, oh, Shelly, I’m glad you’re here. Something I wanted to ask, you.

Chellie Pingree: Know, is Im glad you’re here because you always say, yes, I’ve got something I want to tell you.

David Martin: I mean. Oh, good. You’re here.

Chellie Pingree: Most people are very, very nice, but they always have something on their minds. They have an idea of how you could do it better. And. And, you know, that’s our job to listen. And and also we learn a tremendous amount from what people are thinking about and how they see it and how they hear it. People have the best ideas and the best solutions.

David Martin: You’ve been a nine term congresswoman. What would you like people to know about government from the inside?

Chellie Pingree: Oh, it’s nowhere near as glamorous as it sounds. We don’t get driven around in limousines. We don’t, you know, we don’t have a fancy lifestyle. It’s it’s hard work. And everybody who chooses to come to Washington, and particularly those who have, you know, kids at home or an aging parent, they’re all making sacrifices to make sure they can come down and do this job.

And, you know, we couldn’t do it without it. We are a participatory government. We need people to continue to serve. You know, people might think incumbents stay forever, but they don’t. And we need people to continually stand up and sign up and run for office.

David Martin: Are you one of the congresspeople that shares an apartment with, like, five others?

Chellie Pingree: I live in an apartment building with about 40 others. I do have my own apartment.

David Martin: All right. Good for you. So this is a two part question for you. What’s the best part of the job and what keeps you up at night?

Chellie Pingree: The best part of the job is, you know, having meetings with your constituents. I just had a group in my office, before this conversation that were the, people who run our school lunch services. I mean, these people are out there making sure our kids get healthy food every day, and they’re here to fight for their funding to make sure they continue to get that.

David Martin: So we were able to help them.

Chellie Pingree: Well, that’s what keeps me up at night care in a.

David Martin: Sector.

Chellie Pingree: Is frightening time in Washington. They’ve already suffered a cut. And they’re worried about more. So will I be able to help them? I hope so, because I do believe common sense will prevail. And I think whoever you voted for last November, you didn’t think they were going to cut school lunch programs. But we got to make sure the public knows, you know, here’s the cuts.

Here’s what we’re fighting back against them. So, it’s a challenging time, but I you know, the best part of this job is hearing from people are saying, wait a minute. I got something to say about that, and I want you to hear me.

David Martin: Did you always see yourself going into public service? Were you president of your high school class? Were you, did you did you work on. Oh, I was a.

Chellie Pingree: Terrible high school student. I, I so far out of there. I went to an environmental college and studied organic farming. I thought that I would be, you know, milking cows and raising vegetables and, sewing clothes for my kids my whole life. This is not what I anticipated, but I’ve been very fortunate to do it all.

David Martin: All right. This is the fun question I ask everyone, and I think I know the answer. What is your favorite dish? If I was coming to your town, what would be the thing that I must have when I’m in Maine?

Chellie Pingree: Oh, you’d have to eat a lobster. I mean, sorry, I can do it. What a.

David Martin: Surprise.

Chellie Pingree: We grow oysters in our town, too. So if you’re an oyster lover, we have the best. But I mean, lobsters, bar none, are a delicious food. The fishermen work hard to bring them into all of us. And, you know, we get to eat them all summer long.

David Martin: All right. Are you a lobster roll first, or did you prefer the, the just a whole lobster?

Chellie Pingree: They’re both great, but I like to eat the whole lobster.

David Martin: You want the whole lobster? Now, this is Maine. I have to ask, what do we have for dessert? There’s only one answer.

Chellie Pingree: Blueberry pie.

David Martin: Thank you. Very good bye. My grandmother made me blueberry pies, starting from what I can remember. So, yes.

Chellie Pingree: You are a lucky man. We have blueberries in Maine, and they are the best blueberries in the country. And just to prove it, every year at Appropriations Committee, I make pies for the whole committee, all 60 of them, and make them try it and say, yes, you have the best blueberries.

David Martin: How do I how do I get out of your blueberry pie list?

Chellie Pingree: Just come down anytime.

David Martin: I’ve got I’ve got to talk to your people. When you’re off the clock, what do you do for fun?

Chellie Pingree: Well, I love to cook lobster.

David Martin: Okay?

Chellie Pingree: I cook, anything I like to cook. I have a garden, so I love to putter in my garden. I have seven grandchildren, so I love to spend the day with any of them and watch some, you know, good Pixar movies. Just zone out and, you know, be in another world.

David Martin: This is the good government show. We like to end this on a good government project. Tell me about something that you were able to deliver that you’re pretty proud of. It was money well spent.

Chellie Pingree: I have to go back in time because we’ve just had some great successes. But we don’t know what what we’re going to lose. Well, I’ve worked on, I’ve worked on a handful of farm bills now, having been a small farmer myself, and then, you know, working with the small farmers in our state, I’ve been a strong supporter of more funding for local agriculture.

So we’ve gotten a lot of money included, both in the farm bill and the appropriations bill to support people who are doing, you know, value added on their farm, who are, you know, making improvements to their farm to make it more economically viable. Anything I can bring home to a farmer in Maine makes me feel good.

David Martin: All right, well, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree of Maine’s first district, it has been a pleasure speaking with you. Keep up the good work. Keep wearing pink. Keep up the resistance. And, good luck. Thank you for.

Chellie Pingree: Coming. Thank you so much. It’s really a pleasure to talk to you.

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Despite the headlines and the partizan rancor, it’s good to hear that at least on her interior and environment House committee, the two heads can agree on most things and more importantly, can discuss it. Congresswoman Pingree says she sees more people paying attention and really digging into what’s going in Washington. And an educated electorate only helps. So there is good news and good government.

And it appears when it comes to climate change resiliency, she and Maine are taking a leading role. I hope other states and coastal communities are taking notice. Thanks for listening to our show, and thanks for listening to another example of how government does work for all of us. Please like us and share this with your friends on the viewers right here where you’re listening, and check out our website good Government show.com for extras.

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The Good Government show is a Valley Park production. Jim Ludlow, Dave Martin, that’s me and David Snyder are the executive producers. Our show is edited and produced by Jason Stershic. Please subscribe then share and like us and reviews. That’s the best way to make sure we’re able to keep telling these stories of our government working for all of us.

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**This transcription was created using digital tools and has not been edited by a live person. We apologize for any discrepancies or errors.