People in the Bangor region have three opportunities to hear a fabulous speaker talk about how the class background of elected officials affects what Congress does.

Here’s the information from the University of Maine:

Class, Politics and Public Policy the Focus of Three Lectures by Duke University Scholar

The working class and the need for their voices to be heard in public office will be focus of three public lectures in Bangor, Brewer and Orono, Oct. 2–3.

Nicholas Carnes, assistant professor of public policy at Duke University, will speak at noon, on Wednesday, Oct. 2, at the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine, 96 Harlow St., Bangor, on “Why do Millionaires Run the Country?” This talk is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters.

From 6:45–8 p.m. on Wednesday, October 2, he will participate in a panel discussion, “Balancing the Ballot: Working Class Candidates for Public Office,” at Eastern Maine Labor Council, 20 Ivers St., Brewer.

On Thursday, Oct. 3, Carnes will speak on “The Cash Ceiling: How Expensive Elections Affect Who Runs for Office” at 12:30 p.m. in the Bangor Room of the Memorial Union at the University of Maine.

Carnes’ research focuses on U.S. politics, legislative decision making, representation, social class, economic inequality, and state and local politics. His upcoming book “White-Collar Government: The Hidden Role of Class in Economic Policy Making” examines how the shortage of people from the working class in American legislatures skews the policymaking process toward outcomes that are more in line with the upper class’s economic interests.

Carnes is a member of the Scholars Strategy Network, an organization that brings America’s leading scholars together to address public challenges on national, state and local levels.