Hobbins informs Governor Mills he will retire

SACO — By any measure, Barry J. Hobbins of Saco has had an extraordinary legislative and public service career in the state of Maine. He announced this week that he will retire at the end of his current term as Maine’s Public Advocate.

Hobbins said he informed Governor Janet Mills in a meeting on Thursday. It's been an honor and a privilege to serve the people of Maine, said Hobbins.

“Although I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of representing Maine’s utility customers for the last few years, I have a strong sense that now is the time,” Hobbins said. “I believe the Office of the Public Advocate has made great strides recently and has done fantastic work. Now I’d like to give the Governor the chance to infuse the office with new energy and dedication, and to build on very solid progress. At age 70, I can honestly say that I’ve given it absolutely everything I had. It’s time for my wife Donna and I to decelerate, after all these years, and to finally savor private life."

A staunch, lifelong and loyal member of the Democratic party, Hobbins was appointed as the Public Advocate by Republican Governor Paul LePage in 2017, an appointment that the Maine Legislature unanimously confirmed in May of that year. The nomination by a Republican Governor and smooth sailing through the confirmation process was widely viewed as testimony to Hobbins’ long track record as a well-liked and moderate legislator who placed a very high priority on reaching across the aisle and fashioning effective compromises with political opponents.

“The OPA has a very precise and narrowly defined role, to represent Maine utility customers in any matter before the Public Utilities Commission, state and federal agencies, and the courts. That’s it,” Hobbins said. “Yet certain very unusual events helped to raise the profile of the OPA in the last couple of years, and as a result many folks came to have a much better understanding of the outstanding expertise of the staff, and the crucial role they play. That’s a great outcome. Especially with the proliferation of renewable energy initiatives, defending utility ratepayers will grow increasingly complex in the very near future."

United States Senator Angus King of Maine released a statement today.

“I have known Barry Hobbins as a friend and co-worker for just shy of fifty years and can’t imagine the public service scene in Maine without his presence.” King wrote. “He never forgot his York County roots and never lost his enthusiasm for working to make life better for Maine people. Both Mary and I send our deepest thanks to Barry and Donna for their steadfast friendship to us and our family and for their amazing commitment to their community, and to Maine.”

Before serving as Public Advocate, Hobbins was an attorney in private practice, and also served a total of 13 terms as a member of both the Maine House of Representatives and the Maine Senate, representing the people of Saco. Hobbins recalls, at the very start of his legislative career, supporting the original bill that created the Saco River Corridor Commission in 1974, a measure that protected the entire length of the Saco River from unreasonable development, thus permanently ensuring clean drinking water for tens of thousands of Maine people. He said that bill epitomized the best of what government can achieve when it functions well. There would be many other significant legislative achievements in subsequent decades, and Hobbins reflected on his participation, often in a pivotal role.

“I started when politics was an honorable calling, a way to get really good things done for your community and the state. To be involved in that process and so many good outcomes was truly gratifying. I’m staying hopeful that the bitter partisanship we’re seeing now will eventually run out of steam. We can do a lot better, and we must. Let’s bring back the art of compromise,” he said.

Mark Johnston, a Saco business owner who served 7 terms as the Mayor of Saco, said that Maine is unlikely to see the likes of Barry Hobbins again.

“I have very mixed feelings,” Johnston said. “I’m happy for Donna and Barry, that they will now have the opportunity to do the things they have been missing out on. But this is the end of an era. Barry did so many great things for Saco, or more precisely, for the people of Saco, and the people of Maine. And much of what he did nobody ever knew about, small kindnesses and such that escaped notice. But they happened at all only because of Barry’s complete dedication to public service. He’s always had the same humanistic, empathetic approach, and he’s had it for almost fifty years. To say Barry is a ‘people person’ doesn’t come close to describing his uncanny ability to connect.”

Mike Eon, a Saco resident and a well-known real estate developer in the Biddeford-Saco area, was president of a citizens group that formed in 1999 to advocate for the closure of the MERC incinerator in downtown Biddeford, an event that finally took place 13 years later, in 2012. Since then, an economic resurgence in downtown Biddeford and Saco has blossomed. Eon said Hobbins’ role in the process typified his public service career.

“At the time, we asked all our area legislators for help,” Eon said. “Barry Hobbins was the one guy who stepped up and sank his teeth into the issue. Very few people know of the crucial legislative role he played in 2008. He was masterful. He personally shepherded a bill through the legislature that was a real chink in the armor of the company that owned the incinerator. Without that key contribution, it is very possible that the MERC incinerator would still be operating today. He was fearless and tough as nails, and I give him a ton of credit for all the good things that are happening today as a result.”

The current mayor of Biddeford, Alan Casavant, served alongside Hobbins in the Maine Legislature. He said Hobbins’ defining characteristic is that he was always a fierce competitor, and that worked to the benefit of his constituents.

“Just look at his time heading up the OPA,” Casavant said. “He encountered a couple situations in which he felt utility customers were being taken advantage of. The reaction was typical Barry, his indignation at the injustice was palpable. And so he brought energy and public attention to fixing it. That’s what Barry has always been about. He was never a bureaucrat. For his entire career, extending all the way back to earliest days as a legislator, Barry Hobbins has always been an advocate.”

Hobbins said that when he finishes his service as Public Advocate, he will remain available to Governor Mills as an informal advisor until her nominee to replace him is confirmed. He and his wife Donna have no specific plans for the near future, and will continue to reside in Saco.