'Disgusting and unproductive': Maine Republican chided for comparing lobster regulations to child rape

13 October 2022

At a rally in Portland, Maine on Wednesday, October 12, Republican Ed Thelander — who is trying to unseat incumbent Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree in Maine’s 1st Congressional District — spoke out against federal regulations that he believes are harmful to Maine’s lobster industry. And Thelander is drawing vehement criticism for comparing those regulations to child rape.

Slamming the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Thelander told the crowd, “NOAA wants to rape you and your family, and they’re saying ‘pick a child’…. You don’t negotiate with a rapist, and that’s what’s happening.”

It didn’t take Maine Democrats and Pingree supporters long to slam Thelander for his over-the-top rhetoric. The Maine Democratic Party denounced the comments as “disgusting and unproductive,” adding, “Comments like these show he’s unfit for office.”

Thelander later apologized for his rant, saying, “My comments were over the top, and I apologize for that.”

HuffPost’s Chris D'Angelo notes, “The Portland rally was held to protest what organizers described as ‘devastating rules and regulations on Maine’s lobster industry’ and to call on the state’s attorney general to sue NOAA. Among other things, the agency is planning to limit…. the number of vertical lobster lines in Maine waters and implement new seasonal zone restrictions in an effort to protect right whales, whose populations have plummeted in recent decades. The issue has been front and center throughout Maine in the run-up to November’s midterm elections.”

The 67-year-old Pingree, who is originally from Minneapolis, served in the Maine House of Representatives in the 1990s before unsuccessfully challenging Maine Sen. Susan Collins in 2002. After that, she served as president and CEO of Common Cause, and Pingree was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008.

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