PRESS
 May
2, 2008 - Scontras Convention Speech, May 2, 2008
First Time Candidate "A Breath of
Fresh Air" During Challenging Economic Times
My name is Constantine Peter Scontras, and my friends and
family call me Dean.
My family is the single most important thing in the world
to me and I’d like to take a moment to introduce some of them
to you – My parents Pete & Sophie. My beautiful wife Dawn,
our two lovely children Jack and Zoe. The Scontras family
is from Southern Maine, and as I usually this say about the
York Country area, I guess it’s true here today - you can’t
throw a block of feta cheese without hitting a Scontras! I
am proud of my family.
Family is the Cornerstone. When you walk into our home in
Eliot there is a weathered wooden sign that reads, “Home is
where your story begins.” Around that sign is a mosaic of
pictures that tell the story. I am proud to say that the Scontras
Family has called Maine ‘home’ for almost 100 years. My grandfather
came here, legally, from Greece. He came penniless; didn’t
speak the language but had a pocket full of dreams.
Since their arrival, my family has fought in World War II
and Korea. We have gone to public schools, to Maine Maritime
Academy and the University of Maine. We have played football
(lots and lots of football.) Maine is in our blood.
Like my parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, Mainers do
the heroic daily. It’s deep within the Maine soul to brave
the elements without complaint. Mainers are naturally a stoic
and silent lot, preferring action to words. Perhaps it is
our long legacy with the sea that made us as such. As ship
builders and sea goers, life in Maine has always required
a certain toughness and stiff upper lip and a respect for
things greater than oneself.
As a child, I watched my father walk to work each day, lunch
pail in hand. He left the same time each morning, returned
the same time each night. On one of the coldest nights last
winter I spied a sole welder working in a crows nest high
above Bath Iron Works.
One Mainer shared with me recently her memories of watching
her Uncle stand outside factory gates waiting to work, too
proud to take a dime from the state.
The Maine I know, the Maine I was brought up in, was one
of the rugged individualist, where we understood the value
of hard work, never spent more than we made. We cherished
the values of family. We didn’t look to Hollywood, MTV or
Washington, DC for heroes because they were there around our
kitchen tables each night, stoic and heroic.
Mainers, by our very nature, have historically been very conservative.
Some have suggested that the conservative flame in Maine
is but a flicker. To the contrary, I have seen that flame
burn in each one of you, and you, in turn helped to ignite
this conservative candidate's campaign! However, our conservative
voices are being drowned out by the indignant activist and
the professional protestor. Moveon.org has truly moved in
on Maine! Groups like Moveon.org are working 24/7 to change
the culture in our towns and cities. They are well connected,
well organized and well funded.
Our foes are bold. Some have suggested in pursuit of victory
we not be so bold, that we somehow appease them. Folks, we
have been here before. Amidst the political turmoil of the
1970s, many had written the political obituary on the conservative
movement. It was then that Ronald Reagan said, “We should
not raise a banner of pale pastels, but bold colors which
make it unmistakably clear where we stand on the all of the
issues troubling our nation.”
Let me be clear, I will not compromise on my way to victory
this November! I will speak boldly about the immorality of
high taxes and the failures of the liberal welfare state.
I will boldly declare that maintaining our national sovereignty
means securing the border and not permitting amnesty to those
whose first act here was to break the law. And I will boldly
defend the truth that we cannot diminish the value of one
category of human life - the unborn - without diminishing
the value of all human life.
I have never considered bending my principles for political
expediency. Reagan showed us it doesn’t take political experience
to represent the people. It only requires that one have the
courage of his convictions. Like Reagan, I am citizen candidate,
an outsider. I have not had the advantage of political connections,
nor legislative relationships.
Of all branches of government, the House of Representatives
is the closest to the people.
It is our House of Commons. With short terms of two years,
it is intended that members of Congress come from the rank
and file of the citizenry – farmers, doctors, teachers, shop
owners… even former slaves have served in Congress. It was
never intended be a body of career politicians, controlled
by the web of influence that has become Washington, DC.
This candidacy was not bestowed upon me or encouraged by
a member of the establishment. To the contrary, I am earning
it the old fashioned way, in a way that should make every
Mainer proud – through hard work, through the courage of my
convictions.
When you go into the voting booth on June 10th, ask yourself,
“What would Reagan do?”
Would he paint with pale pastels, or would he paint with bold
colors?
I am asking you on June 10th to keep the conservative fire
alive for the next generation of the Republican Party, for
all the young people up here with me today. Together, let's
raise the Next Generation Republican Party banner over Maine.
Not one of pale pastels, but one of bold, true colors for
all to see. Maine is the first state to see the sun rise each
morning. On June 10th, let that hopeful, promising light shine
on Maine’s Republican Party.
Thank you.
View Dean's Speech
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