Eric Brakey

Eric L. Brakey
Eric Brakey, Maine State Senator
Born	August 8, 1988
Residence	Auburn, ME
Political party	Republican

Eric Brakey is the State Senator for District 20 in the Maine Senate, which includes his residence of Auburn as well as New Gloucester, Poland, Minot, and Mechanic Falls. He serves as the Senate Chairman for the Health and Human Services Committee.^[1] Winning election in 2014, he defeated incumbent Democratic Senator John Cleveland with 59% of the vote.^[2] Winning re-election in 2016, he defeated Democratic challenger Kimberly Sampson with 62% of the vote.

He gained statewide recognition for his role as the State Director for the 2012 Ron Paul Presidential Campaign, which resulted in Ron Paul supporters winning a majority of delegate seats to the 2012 Republican National Convention, and winning key seats on the Maine Republican State Committee and National Committee.

Following his work on the Ron Paul Presidential Campaign, he co-founded the Defense Of Liberty PAC (along with David Boyer), a citizens' group whose mission is to promote "Free People and Free Markets" in the Maine legislature, which terminated operations in 2014.

Legislative Accomplishments

Constitutional Carry

In 2015, as a first-term State Senator in the 127th Maine Legislature, Eric Brakey sponsored Constitutional Carry legislation (LD 652), which allows individuals who are legally able to own firearms to conceal carry in public without a permit.

Senator Brakey's legislation was co-sponsored by 96 state legislators, accounting for over half of the legislature.^[3] On May 29, 2015, LD 652 passed in the Republican-majority Maine Senate with a bipartisan vote of 23 to 12. The Democratic-majority Maine House of Representatives followed on June 1, 2015, passing LD 652 with a bipartisan vote of 83 to 62.^[4] Governor Paul LePage signed LD 652 into law on July 8, 2015,^[5] making Maine the 6th Constitutional Carry state in the nation.^[6]

Welfare Reform

In 2016, as Senate Chairman for the Health and Human Services Committee, Senator Eric Brakey successfully negotiated bipartisan welfare reform legislation, which banned the use of welfare cash in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF) on purchases of tobacco, liquor, gambling materials, lottery tickets, bail, firearms, vacations, adult entertainment and tattoos. To enforce this prohibition, penalties for making prohibited welfare purchases include required restitution for intentional violations and suspensions of benefits ranging from up to three months on the first offense and up to 24 months of suspended benefits on third and subsequent offenses.^[7]

Right to Try

Senator Eric Brakey, as the lead Senate co-sponsor and Chair for the Health and Human Services Committee, led the successful effort for "Right to Try" legislation in 2016, ushering it though the Maine Senate and House. Right to Try guarantees terminally ill patients the right to use investigational drugs, treatments and medical devices that have not yet completed the Federal Food and Drug Administration approval process. Brakey argued, "When someone is terminally ill, they are likely out of traditional options or close to it. With Right-to-Try as the law of the land, patients have the ability to work with their doctors to determine if there is a treatment option available that may fit their needs. At that far stage of an illness, patients, doctors and families should be making decisions – not the government.” Governor Paul LePage signed the legislation into law on March 30, 2016, making Maine the 25th state in the nation to pass Right to Try, and the first in New England.^[8]

2014 Maine State Senate Campaign

Brakey announced his campaign for Maine State Senate at the July 2013 Defense Of Liberty BBQ in Lewiston, ME. His Campaign Chairman was Lois Snowe-Mello, the former State Senator for the region.^[9]

Vita CoCo Commercial

In August 2013, Brakey gained international attention as a Maine Senate Candidate for a commercial he acted in for Vita CoCo Coconut Water several years previously. The commercial featured men dancing in Brazilian bathing suits. The story was featured on several national and international media sources, including Inside Edition^[10] and The Huffington Post^[11]

Attention to this commercial began when Mike Hein (a former employee of the Maine Christian Civic League) sent video of the commercial to major news outlets in Maine, as well as to Eric Brakey's pastors at East Auburn Baptist Church. In his message, Hein describes Brakey as "dancing around in his underwear in his bedroom, as though he were demon-possessed."^[12] Brakey responded, "That's my background, and I'm still doing a lot of acting. I'm an actor, and when I was working professionally in New York City this was a real fun, wonderful opportunity doing a commercial for a national brand."^[12]

At the time of the controversy, Eric was working as an actor with the Lewiston/Auburn Community Little Theatre in an upcoming production of Monty Python's Spamalot.^[13] "If anyone is scared away by the comedy in the Vita Coco ad, they won’t want to see ‘Spamalot’ because it’s much more of a comedic piece that doesn’t shy away from offending,” he said.^[14] "If Ronald Reagan could get away with 'Bedtime for Bonzo' and then become president of the United States, I think voters here are going to be happy seeing some of my dance moves," Brakey said.^[12]

Matt Gagnon, a political commentator at the Bangor Daily News, concluded that the incident was a major boost to Brakey's State Senate Campaign. "As for Brakey, it is nice to see he is taking it in stride. Rather than feel embarrassed about something he shouldn’t feel embarrassed about, he is laughing all the way to the ballot box. He has had more free publicity from this incident than he could have ever bought in a race like this, and he has had an opportunity to show his personality and good nature to the voters. He very easily could have gotten angry and bitter that he was forced to deal with this, but he didn’t."^[15]

Ron Paul 2012 Campaign

Brakey served as the Maine State Director for the 2012 Ron Paul Presidential Campaign during the events of the 2012 Maine Republican Convention, in which Ron Paul supporters elected a majority of Maine delegates to the Republican National Convention and took over many key positions in the Maine Republican Party. Bill Nemitz of the Portland Press Herald called this event "the most successful political coup in recent Maine history."^[16]

2012 Republican National Convention

A challenge to the Maine Delegation was filed by Peter Cianchette (former US Ambassador to Costa Rica) and Jan Staples (former Maine Republican National Committeewoman), both of whom lost elections at the Maine Republican State Convention to Ron Paul supporters. Cianchette and Staples claimed that the Maine GOP State Convention was the rife with "credentialing irregularities," "illegal votes" and "lax floor security." They argued that the results should be thrown out by the RNC and that the 20 Ron Paul supporters who were elected as national delegates should not be allowed to represent Maine at the National Convention.^[16] Brakey argued that the challengers were simply upset over losing election that they felt entitled to. "They wanted a pep rally," Brakey said. "And then an actual political convention broke out." Jan Staples argued, "For us, it's trying to get back control of our party -- and the integrity of the process."^[16] The challenge was heard and decided by the RNC Credentials Committee, which voted to overturn Maine's delegate election results, replacing half of the elected members of Maine’s delegation with individuals chosen by the Republican National Committee.^[17] This decision led Maine's Republican Governor, Paul LePage, to boycott the Republican National Convention. "I made it clear, when the challenge was issued, that I felt the Maine delegates selected at the Maine Convention should be seated in Tampa," LePage said. "It is unfortunate that not all of these delegates will be seated.^[18] Following the decision, Brakey and members of the Maine Delegation led a walkout (along with delegations from several other states including Texas, Nevada, Colorado, Oklahoma, and North Carolina) from the Republican National Convention in protest of the decision.^[19]

Defense of Liberty PAC

Following the Ron Paul Campaign, Brakey founded the Defense Of Liberty PAC (along with David Boyer), a citizens group whose mission is to promote "Free People and Free Markets" in the Maine Legislature.^[20] In the 2012 Maine Legislature Elections, Brakey, as Chairman for the Defense of Liberty PAC, supported the re-elections of Maine Representatives Aaron Libby, Heather Sirocki, Deb Sanderson, Ellie Espling, and David Johnson.^[21] In the 126th Maine Legislature, Brakey, as Chairman for the Defense of Liberty PAC, supported various legislation, including bills that would allow legal handgun owners to carry concealed without a permit (aka "Constitutional Carry"),^[22] require law enforcement to get a warrant to access an individual's private cellphone data,^[23] and remove the sales tax on gold and silver U.S. currency.^[24]

External links

• Official campaign site

References