Michael Brennan sets himself apart with a tone of collaboration

May 12th, 2008 Posted in In The News

by Kevin Wack
Portland Press Herald
Reprinted From an Article Published May 12, 2008

On the campaign trail, Michael Brennan sometimes states that today’s young adults will have an average of three to five different careers before their working lives end.

At age 55, Brennan speaks as someone who should know.

Since graduating from college in the 1970s, he’s been an anti-nuclear activist, a social worker, an affordable housing developer, a lobbyist for a major charity, an educator and a state lawmaker.

Now the Portland Democrat hopes to add yet another line to his resume: congressman.

Brennan is one of six Democrats and two Republicans running in the June 10 primary election for the chance to succeed outgoing Rep. Tom Allen in Maine’s 1st Congressional District. Allen, a Democrat, is stepping down to challenge incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

The winners of the Democratic and Republican primaries will face each other in the Nov. 4 general election.

On many of the issues, including health care and the Iraq war, Brennan may have a difficult time contrasting himself with three better-financed opponents: Chellie Pingree, Ethan Strimling and Mark Lawrence.

All four of them made their names in Augusta, where they all established liberal voting records.

But political style is a separate matter, and it is one area in which Brennan is seeking to distinguish himself from the Democratic pack. While some of his opponents have tried to appeal to progressive voters by bashing the Bush administration, Brennan is offering a message of unity in service of a decidedly liberal agenda.

“I’ve been able to have both Democrats and Republicans come to agreement on how to move forward - and not come to agreement in ways that are meaningless compromise - but to come together in ways that make substantive change in policy,” Brennan said in a recent interview.

RETURNED TO MAINE IN ’70s

Although Brennan was born in Portland, he spent much of his childhood in the South. He graduated from Florida State University, where he wrote editorials for the student newspaper, before returning to Maine in the 1970s.

In his mid-20s, Brennan went to work for the Campaign for Safe Energy, an effort to make candidates in the 1980 presidential race address questions about potential safety problems with nuclear energy.

Ken Ward, who worked on the anti-nuclear campaign and has gone on to a career in environmental activism, said Brennan has a natural flair for team-building.

“In the midst of a crazy campaign, he’s like a glue,” Ward said. “He’s both able to be opinionated and to get stuff done, but to do it in a way that brings people together and is energizing and fun.”

After stints as a community organizer, an administrator and lobbyist for the United Way and as the head of a trust fund that paid for affordable housing projects in Cumberland County, Brennan went to graduate school in 1992 to become a social worker.

During his time as a social work student at the University of New England, Brennan was elected to the Maine Legislature.

Over the next several years, he pursued both careers.

As a social worker, Brennan has done therapy for adolescents who have substance-abuse problems and are in the criminal justice system. He’s also worked with high school athletes who are coping with eating disorders and performance anxiety.

Brennan said he believes his background as a social worker has helped him in the political arena. He explained that both politics and social work require a focus on building relationships, listening skills, consensus-building and the ability to work in groups.

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