Transportation and Commerce, 1980-1994

Senator Mitchell's office was involved with commerce and transportation issues through most of the senator's career from 1980 through 1994. Several legislative aides advised him in these areas, especially Robert Carolla. Grace Reef and Sandy Brown were among other staffers who also managed particular aspects of commerce and transportation legislation. All of the legislative aides and legislative correspondents who worked on these issues did research, advised the senator, and drafted legislation. Senator Mitchell primarily concerned himself with the fishing and maritime industries, aviation, highway development, the railroad industry, local development projects, and general commerce issues. Many of the files deal with projects that would maintain and develop the nation's infrastructure, particularly roads, railroads, airports, waterways, and communications that in turn would provide jobs for workers. Additionally, many files deal with regulations, particularly in communications and the transportation industries. These topics had a combination of local, regional, and national interests. For example, many of the railroad files deal with the Guilford Transportation Industries railroad strike during 1987 and 1988, which had both a local Maine interest and an eastern seaboard regional interest. While many files in the Highway series deal with local road construction projects in Maine, files on the development of the Central Artery project in Boston affected all the states in New England. In the Aviation series many files concern development projects at local airports in Maine, while other files deal with the Montreal Protocols assigning liability in international flight disasters and had a national and international impact.