A statue for Chellie?

Freshman Congresswoman Chellie Pingree is stepping into some pretty big shoes. First, she has been assigned a seat on the House Armed Services Committee, a committee often including a Maine US representative (though her predecessor Tom Allen gave up his seat there for one on the Energy and Commerce Committee). It's considered an important seat because its members can use their influence to benefit Bath Iron Works (owned by General Dynamics), the Kittery Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Saco's General Dynamics plant, and other defense contractors around the state.

And today House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that Pingree has been appointed to the House Rules Committee, which oversees just about every bill and proceeding in the House. A press release from Pingree's office noted that the most famous Mainer to serve on the committee was Portlander Thomas Brackett Reed (whose middle name was misspelled by Pingree's PR guy). But Reed only sat on the Rules Committee when he was Speaker of the House, not in his freshman term!

There's a statue of Reed on Portland's Western Prom, and there's a good amount of greenspace nearby - maybe room for another?