Republican Stacey Allen Fitts of Pittsfield is running for re-election in House District 29. Fitts has served two terms already and is a capable and energetic member of the increasingly important Utilities and Energy Committee. An engineer, Fitts was a member of the state's wind power task force, which devised important rules to hasten and guide the development of wind power in the state.

He is also a strong advocate for Maine's sportsmen, though some of his votes in the past -- especially on legislation to mandate "no net loss" of state land available for hunting -- demonstrate an outdated and, we believe, overly expansive and rigid view of hunters' rights, at the expense of needed conservation.

Fitts' opponent, Democrat Valory Slymon, is a political neophyte. She has bravely taken on the two-term representative, and for that she deserves credit. But she simply can't offer the experience or knowledge that Fitts brings to the race.

The Morning Sentinel endorses Stacey Allen Fitts for re-election to the Maine House of Representatives.