By Lucas Knowles
Editor
    Harold Clough is now focused more on painting and light fixtures than on bills and policy.
    Clough recently finished up his fourth term in the Maine Legislature representing Scarborough after being term limited out of office. Now that he is not constantly working in Augusta, he is performing some improvements on his home in town.
    “We had this house built 20 years ago and we haven’t done anything with it,” Clough said. “My goal is to go through and completely redo every room.”
    Clough represented Scarborough as a Republican in the 119th, 120th, 121st and 122nd Maine Legislature. He still receives phone calls, which he estimated to be around two a week, from people in town who have questions about the legislative process.
    Clough, who grew up in Kennebunkport, worked as a manager for auto parts companies for several years before retiring. When he retired, he thought about what his next step would be and ended up in Augusta.
    “When I retired from Napa, I told people, kind of in a joking way, that I probably run for the legislature,” Clough said. “I had always been interested in what was going on in the state and when I was working, I was usually traveling for business, so it seemed like a good time to (run for the legislature).”
    According to Clough, one of the best parts about being a state representative was the work he was able to do for his constituents. He referenced having students from local schools being honorary pages as something “he got a lot of enjoyment out of” and trying to help people who asked for information the best he could.
    “Sometimes, I was able to answer their questions over the phone and other times, I had to get some information from a state agency,” Clough said. “It was seldom that I couldn’t do something to help them.”
    Before serving in the Maine Legislature, Clough was a member of the Scarborough Planning Board. After he was elected the first time, he felt that he could not devote the time needed to the Planning Board, so he left his post and concentrated on his work in Augusta.
    While in the Maine Legislature, Clough served on the Business, Research and Economic Development Committee and Taxation Committee.
    When asked what were some of the bills over his eight years in the Maine Legislature he thought were significant, Clough said the bills that stand out most to him were the ones that “attempted to deal with tax reform.”
    “There were many ways that the subject of tax reform was approached,” Clough said. “But the problem was that the bills we had never got to the core of the subject.”
    That core issue, Clough believes, is to reduce spending. He said that the way to have true tax reform is to not lower rates on one tax and raise them on another, but to keep a cap on spending to the rate of inflation plus a growth factor.
    The Taxpayer Bill of Rights initiative, which was defeated in a statewide vote last November, was “a good way to get at” tax reform, Clough said.
    “(TABOR) was designed to put a limit on the amount of growth you could have in spending,” Clough said. “It would have encouraged a lot more creativity in getting what you could out of every dollar you have.”
    Clough said he has not seen the legislation connected to the governor’s proposal to reduce the number of school districts in Maine to 26 and decrease the number of school administrators, but he said the proposal is a step in the right direction.
    “It is a pretty drastic change and I don’t know if they should get down to that exact number, but I do think changes need to be made in school administration,” Clough said. “We have many, many small districts that need to be changed.”
    Clough believes that school districts should be drawn up according to population. He said he is looking forward to seeing some “real numbers” associated with the money that is said will be saved by the governor’s proposal.
    “I think there is a real opportunity to come up with something that will work,” Clough said.
    One trend that frustrated Clough during his time serving in Augusta was the fact that people who gave presentations and talked to committees were not under oath.
    “You had presentations where no one was under oath and no one told the whole story,” Clough said. “You had to work hard to make sure you had enough information to make an intelligent decision.”
    On the governor’s proposal to freeze property valuation until a property is sold, Clough said it is important to note that that rule only applies to a homeowner’s land, not their home, and when a home is sold, the last five years worth of tax savings needs to be paid. He said that is not tax relief and that he “would love to up (in Augusta) in the middle of that battle.”
    Clough is a staunch supporter of legislative term limits in Maine. He does not agree with the three major arguments he said are brought forth about the subject – that it takes too long to train new legislators, it gives lobbyists too much control and that it is not fair for the governor to work a new speaker of the house and senate president frequently. Clough believes that the legislature should not be a place for career politicians, but should be filled with “regular people who give up their valuable time to serve their civic duty.”
    “It is supposed to be a people’s legislature,” Clough said.
    Clough, 78, has been married to his wife Judy for nearly 45 years. The couple moved to Scarborough in the early 1970s, then moved to New Jersey for six years in the 1980s. In July of 1987, Harold and Judy came back to Scarborough to stay.
    Harold is active with groups such as the Masons and Judy’s passion is quilting. They have four children – three that live in Gorham and one that lives in Readfield.
    Harold’s last day in the Maine Legislature was in December, when the members of the 123rd legislature were sworn in.