Maine Independent governor candidate Rick Bennett is criticizing both the Republican and Democratic parties as being dysfunctional.

He says, as a result, neither party is able to serve their constituents.

“Now, the parties have become these rigid doctrinaire organizations that demand fidelity to whatever the causes are, and they’re really not interested in getting results, they’re interested in pointing fingers,” said Bennett.

Bennett also contends neither Republican nominee Bobby Charles or Democrat Hannah Pingree are prepared to address housing, childcare, and energy costs, which are crisis issues in Maine.

He points to Pennsylvania’s moderate Governor, Democrat Josh Shapiro, who properly handled a crisis properly when a crucial interstate highway bridge collapsed.

“A bridge fell down,” Bennett said. “Normal process would have taken 10, 12 months to get it replaced. He said, ‘This is a crisis.’ They fixed the bridge in 12 days. This is the kind of action that people want out of a governor, not just a lot of talk, not a lot of finger pointing, but actually get in there and get it done. You call something a crisis, then act like it’s a crisis.”

Both Charles and Pingree say Bennett is aligned with the other party in the governor’s race.

Bennett is a state senator and the former Maine GOP chair, who chose to vote in the Democratic governor’s primary.

He qualified for the general election governor’s election as an Independent and did have to go through the primary process.

Charles last week posted a video criticizing several of Bennett’s recent votes with Democrats in the state legislature, including when he was the only Republican to vote against banning transgender girls from female sports last year.

Bennett has defended that vote as being in line with the Maine Human Rights Act and has suggested school-level resolutions.

Bennett was a guest on News Radio WGAN Wednesday morning. Pingree was a guest Tuesday morning, while Charles joined the broadcast Monday morning.