Maine to close Washington office in budget-cutting move

WASHINGTON — The Maine State Office, a pivotal link between the governor’s office and the nation’s capital through the tenures of James B. Longley, Joseph E. Brennan and John R. McKernan, will close down this summer.

“I’d like to think the office will be missed,” said Lisa Lacasse, an Augusta native who’s been running the office since October. The office will close at the end of June, when the state concludes its fiscal year.

The office — with an operating budget of $68,000 a year — is one of many projects to be slashed in an attempt to lessen the state’s projected $210 million shortfall for the 1990-1991 biennium.

“I’m sorry that they’ve come to this point,” said Don Larrabee, a journalist from Maine who ran the state office for 12 years.

Larrabee — who reported for the Kennebec Journal, the Waterville Sentinel, the Bangor Daily News, the Portland Press Herald and several other newspapers through the Griffin-Larrabee News Service he founded in Washington — started the state office in 1977 during the term of former Gov. Longley.

Since then, the office directors have been a link between the state and Washington, representing the governor’s interests on Capitol Hill, with the executive offices and with various regional organizations such as the National Governors Association.

The office also provides governors with updates on policy emanating from Congress or the administration. Sometimes, the routine varies. The office directors field inquiries from state legislators and provide tourist information, Lacasse and Larrabee said.

“I think there’s no substitute for having someone on the scene,” said Larrabee, who dubbed the post “ambassador for the state.”

Larrabee noted that McKernan was a U.S. representative from 1982 to 1986 and his familiarity with Washington might partially compensate for the office’s closure.

But looking ahead to the end of June, there will be 37 instead of 38 state offices in Washington when Maine’s office closes its doors.