A longtime Bangor resident who has promoted claims that 5G causes COVID-19 and that Obamacare was set up for child trafficking is running for City Council.
Justin Cartier’s bio on X, formerly known as Twitter, read, “Tired of he uniparty and the woke agendas of the Blackrock Pedo Puppets.” He confirmed that the account was his but deleted it less than 24 hours after his interview with the Bangor Daily News.
In the last year, he has reposted content on X promoting false claims that 5G technology causes COVID-19, that Obamacare was implemented for the purpose of child trafficking, and that Jewish people control politics and society.
When asked about the latter post, Cartier said, “Reposting a video doesn’t necessarily mean I agree with everything. It could have been to create discussion around it. But there’s certainly unelected elites, I don’t know what religious affiliation any of them would have, that are in control of the world as we know it … I think it’s just to create discussion and ask, ‘what if?’”
Cartier said he’s running for City Council because he wants to lower taxes and use his personal experience with addiction recovery to help Bangor address its biggest issues. He’s facing off against eight other candidates in a City Council race with the biggest pool in the last six years.
When asked about his posts on X, Cartier elaborated on the 5G conspiracy theory, saying, “There’s interesting coincidences, like in 1918 when the Spanish influenza first started, that’s when we rolled out AM/FM radio. And if you follow the rollouts of each thing, including radar, coming out, there’s different sicknesses that started at the same time. Are they related? I don’t know.”
“I’ve seen videos of people growing plants next to wifi signals and with no wifi signal next to it and the difference in the ability of a plant to grow,” he continued. “We’re basically turning our children into guinea pigs by putting these cell phone towers and 5G transmitters on top of all of the schools … the amount of funding we have to do for our special ed at our schools here in Bangor is huge. And what is contributing to that? Could that be a piece of the puzzle?”
Scientific evidence does not support any link between cell phone radio frequency exposure and increased health risks, according to the FDA.
Cartier also reposted a video of a public commenter at a Bangor school committee meeting criticizing diversity, equity and inclusion and calling the LGBTQ+ community a “pedophilic degenerate cult.”
Cartier named lowering taxes his top priority if elected to City Council. “I think the city needs to look at making cuts. Now, there’s certainly many programs that we need and we need to make sure have funding. But there are places we can make cuts,” he said.
He named Bangor’s recent switch to a more expensive tree service as one example of the sort of places the city could be saving money by choosing less expensive vendors in the procurement process.
He’d like to use money saved from those spending reductions to fund mental health services and peer recovery programs, Cartier said, noting the lengthy waitlist at Acadia Hospital’s intensive outpatient program.
He also said he believes he’d bring a useful perspective to the City Council as someone who has experienced addiction and homelessness.
“The same things that made me an addict are the same things that make me very good at carpentry, which is my chosen business today, and the same things that will make me good as a City Councilor,” Cartier said. “I don’t give up. I don’t let up. I keep coming.”
Cartier said he spent time at the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter before getting sober.
He was found guilty of four misdemeanors between 2003 and 2013, which he linked to his alcohol addiction. “I’m glad to have put those things behind me and made amends for them,” Cartier said.
He noted that he’s concerned about safety in Bangor and wants to help people who are dealing with difficult situations.
“The unpredictability of people and the lawlessness that’s permitted, I think it can change. It doesn’t have to be that way. It doesn’t take but a quick walk around the city on most days to find situations that make you uncomfortable,” he said. “I have a lot of compassion for those people and would like to help them.”
When asked about how he would get more housing built in Bangor, Cartier said the city’s codes could be adjusted to make development easier.
He also expressed doubts about the accuracy of a city-commissioned study that found Bangor is short about 700 units of affordable housing.
“I question that study because I haven’t seen any sources on that of where they’ve sourced that information,” he said.
“We certainly have a lot of building going on in town,” Cartier added, noting that he serves on the city’s Planning Board.