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Chellie Pingree (born April 2, 1955) is a candidate for the U.S. house of Representatives for Maine's 1st District and the immediate past President and CEO of Common Cause, a nonpartisan citizens' lobbying group based in Washington, DC. more...

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Personal

Pingree was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, attended the University of Southern Maine, and graduated from the College of the Atlantic with a degree in Human Ecology.

Pingree held various farming and care-taking jobs until 1981, when she started North Island Yarn, a cottage industry of hand knitters with a retail store on the island of North Haven. Her business expanded and became North Island Designs, employing as many as ten workers. They began marketing knitting kits and pattern books nationwide through 1,200 retail stores and 100,000 mail order catalogues. Through North Island Designs, Pingree authored and produced five knitting books between 1986 and 1992.

Pingree has three children; the oldest, Hannah Pingree, is the Majority Leader of the Maine House of Representatives.

Common Cause

As Common Cause's leader, Pingree strengthened the organization's programs in media reform and elections, while maintaining programs in ethics and money in politics. Among the specific issues she championed at Common Cause are Net Neutrality, Mandatory Voter-Verified Paper Ballots, Public Financing of Congressional Elections, National Popular Vote (a work-around the Electoral College), and an Independent Ethics Commission for Congress. She stepped down from Common Cause in February 2007 to return to her home state, in order to run for Congress in 2008 . If elected she will be Maine's first Democratic woman elected to higher office.

Public Service

Pingree served as the Senate Majority Leader in the Maine Senate representing her island community of North Haven, Maine. Pingree was first elected in 1992 at the age of 37. She was elected Maine's second female Senate Majority Leader on December 4, 1996. In 2002, she made an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican junior senator Susan Collins, and lost by a margin of 16%. She was outspoken against going to war against Iraq, although counseled by party insiders to avoid that subject.

During her tenure as a state legislator, Pingree led several economic development initiatives including landmark legislation to enhance small business opportunities and keep businesses in Maine. She gained nationwide headlines when she authored the nation's first bill regulating prescription drug prices, Maine Rx. Pingree also shepherded Maine's largest land bill initiative, Land for Maine's Future. In 2000, she was forced to leave the Legislature due to term limits.

Read more at Wikipedia.org