Everyone’s Irish in Augusta today

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I’m glad the Maine Legislature isn’t in session on the Day of the Irish or we’d hear even more blarney (or is it baloney?) than usual.

Lawmakers really know how to have fun on holidays.

They’ve got whole closetfuls of emerald green dresses, sweaters and neckties for St. Patrick’s Day, and other closetfuls of bright red dresses, sweaters and ties for Valentine’s Day, Christmas and such occasions.

And a day like St. Patrick’s Day brings out lawmakers’ inherent predilection for blarney (the gift of gab bestowed on those who’ve kissed the Blarney Stone) and doggerel verse.

On this day, everyone’s Irish, from the Franco-American Earl of Eagle Lake on down.

One guy who really is Irish is Pat McGowan, the fair-haired country boy from Canaan.

Rep. McGowan left no doubt as to his Irish heritage as he launched his campaign for Congress in the 2nd District on Friday with a corned beef and cabbage dinner and Irish sing-along at the Canaan Grange Hall.

McGowan will try to play giant-killer in his Democratic challenge to Maine’s first lady — Rep. Olympia J. Snowe — going where no man has gone before, like Captain Kirk and the Starship Enterprise.

Snowe has swatted away six hapless Democratic opponents over the last 12 years, and most pundits think she’s invincible — that Patrick K. McGowan will be the seventh victim of a Snowe avalanche.

But McGowan, who’s served five terms in the Maine House, has various environmental accomplishments to his credit, and now sits on the powerful Appropriations Committee, should be Snowe’s strongest Democratic challenger to date.

Out in town-meeting country, they’re clamoring for Gov. McKernan and the Legislature to quit monkeying around with the $210 million budget shortfall and boost the state sales tax.

If people bought those cars and stereos the way they used to, a penny increase in the 5-percent sales tax would rake in a cool $100 million a year.

This is a grassroots movement that’s getting louder every day.

Teachers, school boards, town councils, and city managers are screaming the loudest.

The reason is that McKernan’s package of budget cuts and revenue enhancers will shift a considerable burden onto town and city budgets. The state may not raise any taxes, but local property taxes will have to go up. This allows lawmakers and the governor, all of whom are up for election this year, to keep their “no-tax” pledge.

Despite the municipal hoorah, and threats of property-taxpayer revolt, McKernan and the Democratic denizens who control the Legislature won’t budge.

“Local officials don’t want to make the tough decisions, so they want us to make them for them,” said McKernan, maintaining that higher taxes are a bad idea when the economy is sluggish.

McKernan’s best friend, House Speaker John L. Martin, said of a sales-tax hike, “It’s not even on the agenda … We don’t have the votes. If these people want a tax, let them go see the governor … They elected Jock McKernan and they’re getting what they deserve.”

The bill may be a lost cause, but I can’t help but side with the home schoolers in the debate over eligibility to play high-school sports.

Rep. B. Carolyne Mahany’s bill is a bit hard to explain, but it sprang from the trials of David Novak, who was granted less elibility to play sports at Fort Fairfield High School than he was academic credit for home schooling.

Speaker Martin lent his considerable weight to the debate and managed to get the high-school sports bill through the House by two votes.

Opponents said it would let parents “red-shirt” their kids, keeping them home to beef them up.

Maybe that’s a concern, but size isn’t the only factor in sports. A kid isn’t going to get very good at football or basketball unless he plays on a team and currently, the Maine Secondary School Principals’ Association isn’t letting home-schooled kids play on school teams. If they did, the home schoolers wouldn’t have any more time to play than the kids in school.

Rep. Paul Jacques, a macho-type from Waterville, brought down the House during the home-school debate this week.

Jacques said when he was a scrawny freshman football player at Waterville High School, he loved to go after the biggest guys on the other team. The bigger they come, the harder they fall, said Jacques.

So much for the fears of the red-shirt crowd.

John Hale is the NEWS State House Bureau chief.