Anne Haskell is serving her second term representing Portland beginning in January of 2009. She previously served three terms in the 114th, 115th and 116th Legislature representing Gorham. After that, she was a member of the senior staff for Governor Angus King as the Director of Appointments to Boards and Commissions, and worked as the Chief Operating Officer for the Maine International Trade Center. Most recently, Anne was Communications Manager for the Finance Authority of Maine, working with the legislature to enhance the programs FAME offers, which provide innovative financial solutions for business and higher education.
A graduate of Deering High School, Anne attended the University of Southern Maine while working and raising a family in Gorham. She was active in local government, serving on various boards, and as an elected Town Councilor. Her work experience includes assisting a local dentist, financial manager for a women's alcoholism treatment center, financial administrative assistant for Woodard and Curran Engineers, and starting her own small business, The Gorham Office, which provided administrative and payroll services for other local entities.
During the last two years 2007 and 2008, Anne has been a member of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee that worked to accomplish the consolidation of the State Prison system with the County Jail system. In that consolidation, local property tax assessments for jail costs have been frozen and should result in lower property taxes going forward. Besides her work on the Criminal Justice Committee she stood up for our working waterfront, sponsored bills to enhance screening for breast cancer, improve housing security deposit options for lower income Mainers, and helped to make unemployment compensation fair for seniors. She also kept in touch with constituents in person and with her monthly informative cable access TV program, "Haskell from the House".
During her first three terms in the Legislature, Anne served on the State and Local Government Committee, the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee, and was House Chairman of the Committee on Corrections (now Criminal Justice and Public Safety). She was active in women's issues, and was the prime sponsor of the first Sex Offender Registration in Maine.She also worked on a variety of other legislation including the following:
After moving back to her childhood home on Higgins Street in Portland, Anne remarried and was elected to serve the district which stretches from Evergreen Cemetery on Stevens Avenue, to the Sewell Street Amtrak and intercity bus terminal, out to the Westbrook line in the Stroudwater area. Currently a member of the Deering Center Neighborhood Association, and a Deacon at Central Square Baptist Church, Anne also serves as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gorham Savings Bank.
She and her husband, Lou, enjoy their summer camp at Panther Pond in Raymond, spending time with all their grandchildren, and embrace an active lifestyle that includes hunting and fishing, and dancing to great county music.
