Richard Glen Woodbury (born October 10, 1961) is an American politician and economist from

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. Woodbury served as an unenrolled State Senator from

's 11th District, representing part of

Cumberland County Cumberland County may refer to: Australia * Cumberland County, New South Wales * the former name of Cumberland Land District, Tasmania, Australia Canada *Cumberland County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom *Cumberland, historic county *Cumberlan ...

, including the population centers of Falmouth and

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

as well as his residence in Yarmouth. He was first elected to the

Maine State Senate The Maine Senate is the upper house of the Maine Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. The Senate currently consists of 35 members representing an equal number of districts across the state, though the Maine Constitution ...

in 2010 after defeating incumbent

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Gerald Davis and Green Independent Chris Miller. The

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

in the race, Cynthia Bullens, dropped out of the race and endorsed Woodbury, though her name remained on the ballot. He served three terms from 2002 to 2008 in the

Maine House of Representatives The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 voting members and three nonvoting members. The voting members represent an equal number of districts across the state and are elected via p ...

. He has also been a visiting scholar with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and written extensively on tax reform in Maine.

126th Legislature

After winning a closely contested race for re-election in November 2012, Woodbury was the "policy architect" of a dramatic tax overhaul put forth by a bipartisan "Group of 11" legislators. Woodbury's tax plan called for the reduction in the state's income tax and increased consumption taxes as well as eliminating Maine's

estate tax An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died. International tax law distinguishes between an es ...

. The

Portland Press Herald The ''Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram'' is a morning daily newspaper with a website that serves southern Maine and is focused on the greater metropolitan area around Portland, Maine, in the United States. Founded in 1862, its roots e ...

said the plan sought "to slash the state's income tax rate in half and make a host of other sweeping changes, including raising sales and excise taxes and eliminating exemptions". Woodbury also introduced a resolution calling on Maine's congressional delegation to support a constitutional amendment to overturn the decision in ''

Citizens United v. FEC ''Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission'', 558 U.S. 310 (2010), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States regarding campaign finance laws and free speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It wa ...

'' and the notion of

corporate personhood Corporate personhood or juridical personality is the legal notion that a juridical person such as a corporation, separately from its associated human beings (like owners, managers, or employees), has at least some of the legal rights and respons ...

. Woodbury announced on January 21, 2014, that he would not seek re-election. Days before the 2014 general election, Woodbury and others began a statewide citizen's initiative to replace Maine's

plurality voting system Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate, or candidates, who poll more than any other counterpart (that is, receive a plurality), are elected. In systems based on single-member districts, it elects just one member per ...

with a ranked choice voting system as is used in

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and for electing the

mayor of Portland, Maine The Mayor of Portland is the official head of the city of Portland, Maine, United States, as stipulated in the Charter of the City of Portland. This article is a listing of past (and present) Mayors of Portland. History of the office Before 19 ...

, among other places.

Personal

Woodbury's father,

Robert Woodbury Robert Woodbury (1938 - September 12, 2009) was an American politician and university administrator. Woodbury was the Chancellor of the University of Maine system from 1986 to 1993. In 1994, Woodbury ran in the Democratic Party's primary for Gov ...

, was chancellor of the

University of Maine System The University of Maine System (UMaine System or UMS) is a state university system in the U.S. state of Maine. It was created in 1968 by the Maine Legislature and consists of eight institutions, each with a distinct mission and regional character. ...

and ran for governor in 1994. Woodbury earned his B.A. from

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

in 1983, his M.A. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1988 and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard in 1991. Woodbury has been an economist with

National Bureau of Economic Research The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...

since 1998.

References

1961 births Living people American Unitarian Universalists Maine state senators Members of the Maine House of Representatives Maine Independents People from Yarmouth, Maine Williams College alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Economists from Maine 21st-century American economists {{Maine-politician-stub