Eben Rose
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Eben Rose (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Maine State Senate to represent District 29. He lost in the Democratic primary on July 14, 2020.
Rose completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Rose was born in Hollywood, California. He earned a bachelor's degree from Northern Arizona University in 1996 and a master's degree from Northern Arizona University in 2003. He has also attended Yale University for a Ph.D. His career experience includes working as a small business owner. He previously worked as a professor at Bowdoin College and at the University of Connecticut. He served in the U.S. Army from 1987 to 1988.
Rose has been affiliated with the following organizations:[1]
- 350Maine
- Our Revolution
Elections
2020
See also: Maine State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Maine State Senate District 29
Anne Carney defeated Stephanie Anderson in the general election for Maine State Senate District 29 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Anne Carney (D)  | 67.2 | 16,847 |
| Stephanie Anderson (R) | 32.8 | 8,221 | ||
| Total votes: 25,068 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic Primary for Maine State Senate District 29
The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Anne Carney in round 1 .
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Total votes: 8,566 |
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican Primary for Maine State Senate District 29
The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Stephanie Anderson in round 1 .
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Total votes: 1,347 |
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Eben Rose completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Rose's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am an Earth scientist and activist, one-time South Portland City Councilor and tireless advocate for climate justice and economic reform. Science tells us we have thirty years (or much less) to CHANGE the EVERYTHING to live sustainably and equitably on this planet. This means we have to change how we interact with nature and with each other. We must change what and how much we consume, how and why we go to work and spend our limited time on Earth, and how we measure economic success.
As protests rage, the pandemic expands, and the economy teeters on depression, we have a chance to CHANGE THE EVERYTHING and should expect more from our elected leaders in the vision that they offer and in the plans and strategy they propose to get us there from here.
We have to think bigger, think bolder and more creatively as elected leaders and not just nudge things along. There is no time for that. And in the absence of proposing in our public forums the big changes we need to make, private and corporate interests will make our future for us, and that future will be neither sustainable nor equitable.
This is a primary race for a party nomination for state office but it is also a moment of reckoning for us all. Think bigger. Expect more. Change the Everything.- Climate change requires us to change the everything. Small incremental steps are not enough.
- Economic reform must be guided by economic justice, environmental justice, and quality of life for everyone.
- We need single-payer health care in this nation. Billing reforms I propose will help expose exploitive and immoral private insurance and medical billing practices and nudge us toward demanding health care as a right.
Environment and climate change- I understand, as an Earth scientist, the scale of this problem and respond with an appropriately scaled strategic plan to address it.
Economic reform- unlimited 'growth' as an overarching economic goal is unsustainable within a limited ecosystem. We need to re-cast our economy with a focus on promoting the common welfare and securing quality of life for everyone. It is our Constitutional obligation to do so.
"The Value of Everything" by Marianna Mazzucato underlies the task of reinventing the economy in a way that shakes off the progress-killing dogma of marginal utility theory and how we measure economic "success".
The 2010 TED talk by Naomi Klein called "Addicted to Risk" lays bare the urgency of our ecological crisis and the danger of the belief that we will "business our way" out of it.
Integrity. To me this means making a conscious effort to do the right thing for selfless reasons. It means taking your bubble-view of the world and airing it out, examining it closely, and being willing to reconcile it with differing views by identifying all the auxiliary assumptions and life experiences that make us come to different conclusions. I see 'agreeing to disagree' as a cop-out. I assume the best intentions of everyone and focus political disagreements on the starting place that everyone sees her/himself as a moral person.
Critical thinking. It is too easy to be swayed by folksy wisdom or deference to authoritative claims without digging deeper into the claim itself. There are critical thinking tools and vast access to information that together can raise the quality of any public discourse. Intellectual rigor and diligent research are the antidote to folksy populism and the sway of lobbyist testimony. Intellectual laziness may appeal to voters who may want to identify with their elected official as a 'fishing buddy', but when the Legislature is occupied by enough such leaders, the body itself becomes weakened and vulnerable to manipulation by more sophisticated corporate interests, and democracy loses.
Critical thinking. It is too easy to be swayed by folksy wisdom or deference to authoritative claims without digging deeper into the claim itself. There are critical thinking tools and vast access to information that together can raise the quality of any public discourse. Intellectual rigor and diligent research are the antidote to folksy populism and the sway of lobbyist testimony. Intellectual laziness may appeal to voters who may want to identify with their elected official as a 'fishing buddy', but when the Legislature is occupied by enough such leaders, the body itself becomes weakened and vulnerable to manipulation by more sophisticated corporate interests, and democracy loses.
Scientific literacy- few legislators possess the sort of critical thinking skillset that understands how to incorporate data about the natural world into a cogent and comprehensive argument that does not seek to persuade, but instead seeks truth.
Economic literacy- because "the economy" and "economic" are used as a blunt instrument to substitute for "makes money", we have lost our historical footing in discussion what was once known as "political economy". Economic decisions are political decisions. We need to own this word and take it back from the model-making realm of economists focused on busieness and finance as if this is the whole of political economy. This is trickle-down talk, and we need legislators need to call it out.
Creativity- I think big and am ever seeking path forward.
Be creative. People are busy in their lives just trying to stay afloat. This is the sad outcome of policy choices that keep most people economically insecure. Ideas for how to get out of this situation and to make a better world have to come from somewhere. They can come from private companies that do not have the common welfare in mind and that seek favors from government to absorb their understated risk. They can come from private organizations or interest groups that select certain policies to promote through opaque and undemocratic processes. Or they can come from the public itself through popular election, bypassing corporate and organizational hierarchies that are inherently undemocratic. Leadership is listening, but it is also leading. And by 'leading' I mean offering a vision for the better future world and having a well-reasoned and articulated plan to get there from here. If you have the time and attention to be an elected official, be creative and offer voters your ideas; don't just be an empty vessel.
Communication. Regular journalistic communication about the goings-on at the Legislature will help people understand its function and its impediments to progress. Often newsletters from legislators are self-congratulatory reports on her/his great accomplishments, often with a photo-op of a handshake or ceremonial signing. Rarely if ever is a strategic vision laid out with specific bills that give us a sense for how rapidly or slowly we are progressing toward that vision. It is all feel-good incrementalism. I want to see how the end goal was met or not met by a particular bill; I want to see the second step that follows success, or the alternative step that clears the way to the next step if the first step fails. I want to see it graphically in a way that keeps perspective on the big picture and not get lost in some self-promoting narrative that make us feel like any progress is equally meaningful when there is so much that needs to change.
Communication. Regular journalistic communication about the goings-on at the Legislature will help people understand its function and its impediments to progress. Often newsletters from legislators are self-congratulatory reports on her/his great accomplishments, often with a photo-op of a handshake or ceremonial signing. Rarely if ever is a strategic vision laid out with specific bills that give us a sense for how rapidly or slowly we are progressing toward that vision. It is all feel-good incrementalism. I want to see how the end goal was met or not met by a particular bill; I want to see the second step that follows success, or the alternative step that clears the way to the next step if the first step fails. I want to see it graphically in a way that keeps perspective on the big picture and not get lost in some self-promoting narrative that make us feel like any progress is equally meaningful when there is so much that needs to change.
I want to change the scope of political discourse to embrace fundamental human needs- promoting the general welfare as a Constitutional obligation- and to get out of the dogma that government is an impediment to the freeform pursuit of prosperity. Such freeform pursuit for some is peonage and servitude for others, and this is why western-styled democracy was comceived during the Enlightenment.
I don't have to be the one to be associated with the legacy I may generate. I just want to help Change the Everything.
I don't have to be the one to be associated with the legacy I may generate. I just want to help Change the Everything.
I remember the moon landing, vaguely, the breakup of the Beatles and the fall of Saigon. But I remember Nixon resigning as the first historical event in which I was aware of the year. This was first grade. I asked questions about it then. I am still asking questions about it.
Castles Made of Sand by Jimi Hendrix. Why is this important? If you are reading this answer, please know that the world is burning.
This is not a nation of meritocracy. I graduated high school penniless and homeless but brimming with curiosity and an avid learner. I was a blue collar worker, undervalued and exhausted by the end of the day. Now, 37 years later, with advanced degrees from prestigious universities, world traveled, and broadly educated over a wide range of topics, I find myself back in blue collar work doing much the same thing, and am still a medical bill away from homelessness and poverty, like most of America.
The most important difference is the disability of the Senate to introduce laws that raise taxes. There are workarounds that I have been informed of, and I will work with the House to introduce vacancy tax legislation similar to that which was adopted by Vancouver, B.C.,, the proceeds of which help fund affordable housing. Maine has more than its share of mansions that sit idle for most of the year. This form of wealth tax is timely and, I would argue, necessary if we are to remain an egalitarian society and avoid the continued slide into neofeudalism.
We are a term-limited state. I would argue that a state legislature that is term limited should be adequately equipped with supportive staff and easy-to-navigate procedures to make each legislator effective from the beginning. Otherwise, term limits in combination with difficult-to-master rules and procedures only serves to diminish the power of the Legislature as a whole and is anathema to democracy. It helps to be familiar with the State Constitution and Statutes, but these are public and do not require previous experience.
I keep hammering on the issue of climate change and ecosystem collapse because I don't think lawmakers or the public really understand what is at stake and why it requires that we change "the everything" and to not just nibble at the margins with little tweaks here and there. We have seen how this Covid-19 pandemic has exposed weaknesses in our supply chains and health care system; it shows us how mean spirited and inequitable our economic system is. It gives us a glimpse into our near future with crisis-upon-crisis demanding more of our time, more of our stress, more of our ability to be a problem-solving democracy. It is showing us that the set-for-life among us will not feel the urgency for change, but that the majority of us who live precariously day to day will be easily brushed aside if the upward flow of capital is disrupted.
Legislatures are our voice for public planning and for laying out a vision for the future. We are not constrained by budgets; we are constrained by our own self-limiting creativity.
Ideally, the Governor will faithfully execute laws that the Legislature passes or that passes by referendum. This has not been the case in recent Maine history. The Governor should clearly articulate how her/his Constitutional obligation to "promote the common welfare" is laid out in state agency policy and leadership and in the budget, and not do so in a piecemeal fashion, citing uncontextualized or vacuous statistics that may sound impressive but always fall short of their goal.
The Governor needs to give the Legislature space to do what it does best: plan for the future in a way that fulfills our Constitutional obligations to the people of the state. She/he should fill in the gaps but not dominate the bandwidth of the Legislature with her/his agenda. She/he should respond to Resolutions that give direction to state agencies with earnestness and not dismiss such actions as impertinent.
The Governor needs to give the Legislature space to do what it does best: plan for the future in a way that fulfills our Constitutional obligations to the people of the state. She/he should fill in the gaps but not dominate the bandwidth of the Legislature with her/his agenda. She/he should respond to Resolutions that give direction to state agencies with earnestness and not dismiss such actions as impertinent.
Of course relationship building is necessary to garner the attention to hear and understand complex legislation and to secure votes for passage. But as a term-limited Legislature, every member should start afresh, recognizing the unique place and situation that each other legislator comes from and to tailor the communication of legislation to that particular situation, I appreciate that each legislator has been elected by the people from her/his district and has every right to see her/his role there- and the role of the institution itself- in her/his own lens. I am less inclined to support a culture of seniority and hierarchical leadership for this reason. I would feel differently if it were not a term-limited Legislature, but because we have decided as voters to impose term-limits, I believe openness and egalitarian leadership follow.
Metric geometry, as developed by Moon Duchin of Tufts and Justin Solomon of MIT is a sophisticated topological tool for redistricting that eliminates gerrymandering and party bias in favor of open-source transparency and robust logical and legally defensible methods. The Boston-based Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Working Group works with civil rights groups to ensure that voting rights are protected especially where they have been diminished or are threatened for certain demographic groups.
Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry
Environment and Natural Resources
Energy, Utilities, and Technology
I am well versed in parliamentary procedure and can serve as chair or speaker eventually. For now I am focused on proposing legislation.
I admire Seth Berry from Bowdoinham for introducing legislation that proposes to remove the monopoly license of electricity utilities CMP and Emera and to replace them with a publicly owned utility. This is the sort of bold and forward-thinking legislation that is needed. It requires him to get out to the various districts across the state and hold educational forums to educate the public and to build support.
Not at this time.
One elder woman in our district who I know well as an activist was part of an insular anabaptist community akin to the Amish (but not Amish) that fled Nazi Germany to England. When she became a teen she discovered that she loved women and was shunned from this community. She fled to the US and became the director of a shelter for battered women. She is soft-spoken but insistent and direct, and is an indefatigable advocate for human rights and environmental causes. She worked with a group called Elders for Future Generations to take on Big Oil in 2013 in a controversial plan to export tar sands from Canada out of Casco Bay by tanker. This opposition turned into a movement that activated sleepy South Portland and propelled it to a progressive powerhouse in the state.
I also recall the story of my postal carrier from a few years ago, now delivering elsewhere within the City. She is young, a single mother of two, and like so many stories I hear, trying hard to emerge from a broken past and to engage in civic life. She is bright, artistic, talented, and underemployed and underappreciated. There are too many broken lives like hers that I encounter- lives that are given little space in our mean-spirited work-unto-death economy to heal and to realize their fuller human potential. Anyone who breaks the chain of abuse, neglect, addiction, hatred, and racism deserves our praise. The chain-breakers need to be empowered and supported; these are the sutures that close the gaping wounds of society.
I also recall the story of my postal carrier from a few years ago, now delivering elsewhere within the City. She is young, a single mother of two, and like so many stories I hear, trying hard to emerge from a broken past and to engage in civic life. She is bright, artistic, talented, and underemployed and underappreciated. There are too many broken lives like hers that I encounter- lives that are given little space in our mean-spirited work-unto-death economy to heal and to realize their fuller human potential. Anyone who breaks the chain of abuse, neglect, addiction, hatred, and racism deserves our praise. The chain-breakers need to be empowered and supported; these are the sutures that close the gaping wounds of society.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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Current members of the Maine State Senate
Leadership
Senate President:Matthea Daughtry
Majority Leader:Teresa Pierce
Minority Leader:Harold Stewart
Senators
District 1
Susan Bernard (R)
District 2
Harold Stewart (R)
District 3
Bradlee Farrin (R)
District 4
Stacey Guerin (R)
District 5
Russell Black (R)
District 6
Marianne Moore (R)
District 7
Nicole Grohoski (D)
District 8
Mike Tipping (D)
District 9
Joe Baldacci (D)
District 10
David Haggan (R)
District 11
Glenn Curry (D)
District 12
District 13
Cameron Reny (D)
District 14
Craig Hickman (D)
District 15
District 16
Scott Cyrway (R)
District 17
District 18
Richard Bennett (R)
District 19
Joseph Martin (R)
District 20
Bruce Bickford (R)
District 21
Margaret Rotundo (D)
District 22
James Libby (R)
District 23
Matthea Daughtry (D)
District 24
Denise Tepler (D)
District 25
Teresa Pierce (D)
District 26
Timothy Nangle (D)
District 27
Jill Duson (D)
District 28
District 29
Anne Carney (D)
District 30
Stacy Brenner (D)
District 31
Donna Bailey (D)
District 32
Henry Ingwersen (D)
District 33
District 34
Joseph Rafferty (D)
District 35
Mark Lawrence (D)
Democratic Party (20)
Republican Party (15)
