NMH Magazine : Winter 2004

Honor Roll

Sharon Treat ’74 was elected to the Maine Senate in 1996 and became majority leader in 2002, having previously served as assistant majority leader. She’s also coordinator of the Environmental Studies Program at Colby College, where she teaches environmental law. Before serving in the legislature, Treat was a staff attorney for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. 

Education: Princeton University, AB, 1978; Georgetown University Law Center, JD, 1982

At NMH you would have been most likely to: Try and change the rules.

Worst memory from NMH: Body Mechanics, a required and totally anachronistic and sexist course for female students that I’m proud to say I helped abolish.

Family ties to NMH: My parents, Bob and Mary Lou Treat, taught at NMH and all my siblings, Roger ’75, Jessica ’76, Carolyn ’78, and Rory ’86, are grads.

Greatest strength: I just don’t quit, even when things look hopeless. When I graduated from NMH I received an award for persistence, which I didn’t appreciate at the time. But I guess there was some truth to it.

Most valuable lesson you’ve learned: Politics makes the strangest bedfellows. In other words, someone who’s fighting you today may be an ally on the next issue, so it pays to talk to others with a different point of view. 

One thing most people don’t know about you: I’m an avid (though not expert) sea kayaker.

Why did you go into politics? When you first ran for office in the third grade, it’s hard to remember what motivated you at the beginning. Even then, I suppose it was the opportunity to change rules I thought were unfair. Giving people a better deal is still a motivation, whether it’s fighting inequality or cleaning up the environment. 

What’s been your greatest triumph as state senator? Sponsoring and leading the legislative fight for the Dirigo Health Law, which recently passed in Maine and will extend health insurance to most of the state’s uninsured population over the next several years.

What’s been your greatest challenge as senate majority leader? I’m a majority leader with a razor-thin majority—one vote. Every initiative we want to pass must get all of our Democratic senators’ votes or Republican support, because otherwise they’ll fail. So every controversial vote requires consensus within our caucus, careful maneuvering on the floor, and an ability to count votes exactly. 

What are your political ambitions? I’d love to run again for majority leader, but because of term limits I’ll have to step down from the senate at the end of 2004. I could see running for higher office sometime in the future.